South Somewhere Else Nana Grizol

It was assumed that the South was a thing that took place
Somewhere else
We grew up in a town that our parents just found
On a job search and liked it quite well
Who had so many friends who arrived just like them
So their kids were our kin for a spell
It was assumed that the South was a thing that took place
Somewhere else
Like the feeling of home was a book on a loan
From a college town private school shelf
We took in every chapter with interest and laughter
But never quite a sense of ourselves

A dangerous narrative, haunting imperative
Led us little kids to believe
That the place we were from shed a sheen we should shun
Like the salt of the sweat dripping down from our sleeves

Was assumed that the South was a thing that took place
Somewhere else
Like the sun that went down on the edge of my town
Progressed no further west as it fell
And on visits to relatives, couldn't quite tell
'Cause his pounding heart sank as they swelled
It was assumed that the South was a thing that took place
Somewhere else
As if Jim Crow geographies didn't haunt all of the
Streetscapes we'd come to know well
Not just the old neoclassical mansions we passed
Or the high school had stories to tell