A project created and edited by Hanan Robinson
Hindsight is: 2020-Is a Hayden’s Ferry Review student internship project that asked a few of our contributors what it meant to experience the year 2020, specifically through the Black body* while in the middle of a pandemic, the largest social justice movement ever, and the end of a United States presidential term. The intention was for the pieces to start at being Black in 2020, and expand as deeply as the individual, whether they be queer, disabled, undocumented, etc.
This project proposal came out of my own experience and desire to process 2020 and the way it was oppressive in new and old ways, the grief, the pressure and the rage as a person who experiences life within a Black body*.
What our wonderful contributors- I.S. Jones, Christian J. Collier, and Jordan McDonald have provided, are pieces that offer a range encompassing pre-pandemic poems that remain relevant, to expressions of frustration, self reflection, and grief. Please join us in this expression of poetic talent.
Index
Jordan Taliha McDonald - “Trials”
Christian J. Collier - “When My Days Fill With Ghosts”
*Editor’s Note: Over this past year, the conversation around the term "Black body" has become more complicated. For many, the term, which originally acknowledged the ways Black folx, or folx who happen to be Black, were mistreated on that pretense to convey a term of commodification. It began to feel like people only wanted Black bodies insomuch as they could use them. It began to feel deeply entrenched with the ways Black folx were used for, by and expendibly by this and many other countries. I didn't anticipate this complication when I first used this term in my proposal, but am now reflecting upon the ways humanity-conveying language becomes especially complicated when referring to Black people. - Hanan Robinson
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Editor’s Bio: Hanan Robinson is a recent graduate of ASU with her B.A. in English-Creative Writing with a concentration on poetry. Originally from San Diego, CA, she moved to Phoenix about 14 years ago and is still wondering why it gets so damn hot here. Over the past 3 years she's become more involved in community organizing and asking the questions around what does it mean for us to build a culture of care in a society that systemically profits off of our individual and collective neglect.