life’s hard

I often regret going into Manhattan, unless I’m heading to Harlem.  The city can be rather alien at times, whereas Brooklyn’s the planet I know best.  This morning I went to the garden, admired the magnolias, then stopped at the central branch of the BPL to get some books I need for the poetry workshops they’ve asked me to lead next week.  Then I got on the train and headed to Stuff for the Teen Age at the central branch of the NYPL.  Sometimes when I see what passes for “normal” for others, I feel like I live in a parallel universe.  And that made me think of this brilliant poem by my friend Rosa.  There’s a story of courage that goes with it, but I have to wait a few days before I reveal all that.  For now, here’s how many of us feel in our parallel universe (she wrote this as an undergrad):

“Hard”
by Rosamond S. King
I just wrote a poem that changed my life
which is not hard
so I cannot listen to the white girl who says college
is hard
school is easy
watching your brother necklaced is hard
erasing your 3yearold self
so you do not see your father’s thing is hard
I am appalled at how I hear this girl’s words
and even reply while ignoring her, dismissing her
but it’s not hard
passing the exam will be difficult
graduating ivy league will be challenging
fighting a revolution when you’re 13 is hard
being Black is exhausting
being Latina is fatiguing
being Native American is wearisome
being Asian is laborious
being raped by 17 soldiers is hard
dying alone is hard
choosing where to eat is perplexing
meeting your ex-lover is awkward
deciding what to wear is complex
getting up in the morning takes effort
surviving is reflex
life is hard