My grandparents never talked
about theory, decolonization, or
post-colonial this or that.
They talked about
good times and bad times.
Their self-determination was
not a struggle against
colonialism affecting their
self-imagination.
They worked hard to survive.
They didn’t imagine themselves
through story.
They knew themselves
through the stories they heard
as they sat under the kitchen table
listening to the old people talk.
They didn’t need theory
to explain where they came from—
they lived it.