HISTORIA
am teaching World History
at a local school
more History 001 than 101
nothing is
sacred, everything up
for rewriting, total revision
but they stare at me like
the words I speak
are totally alien
and by my aged look
I must myself be
true ancient artifact
thing dug up
out of rich mythological soil
tell them that this dessicated
impoverished north-
western corner
of rural South Africa, site of
forgotten wars and battles
once took its name
from the Egyptian city of Ra
which
if they knew their Afrofuturism
and seen their Killmonger movie
they might
make the intellectual leap
to connect
to the mystery of their lives
Oh, that ongoing process
where there is so much
writing, rewriting
theories, counter-
theories, accusations, explanations
attempts to evade
sugar coat
the thing that is power
thing that
is bottom line
move on here: nothing to read
worth reading
so much text upon text
within text:
a palimpsest of scrawl
need to rub out, wipe clean,
create space for then to write
thelir owb stories
in own clear words
that blackboard, whiteboard
a clean slate
History and
possibility
open for business
space to
write, define
the irony all mine