Postcolonial Love Poem
Natalie Diaz
Mac Arthur Fellow poet Natalie Diaz’s second collection of poetry, Postcolonial Love Poem, captures a sense of desire and centers the ugly legacies of colonialism. Many of the luminous poems express sensuality through visceral imagery, but they also create a new context for love poems—postcolonialism. In other words, Diaz has created a context uniquely her own by centering queer Indigenous / Latinx experiences. The collection covers a wide range of topics including basketball, mental illness, the writing process, and resource exploitation. The book’s title is derived from the first piece, “Postcolonial Love Poem,” a love poem set within the context of rapaciousness done to indigenous peoples. In this work, the author is conveying warring both literally and metaphorically. Colonial warring with indigenous in the Americas dates back at least five centuries with the advent of the Spanish, and later French and British colonizers. There are numerous poems that express sensuality such as the stunning poem “Ode to the Beloved Hips,” which depicts a torrid love affair with the body likened to the Catholic Church. In short, the poem is about two lovers whose bodies become one in a “transubstantiation bone—hips of bread” divine meeting. In this poem, references are to the communion of bodies and not as a religious sacrament. To that end, the Catholic Church, which has historically supplanted Native beliefs has now been subverted. The subversion of the Catholic imagery is postcolonial. The ability to capture the legacy of colonialism in stark, beautiful poems is a testament to the author’s brilliance. |
Poet Natalie Diaz (Mojave) teaches Creative Writing in Arizona State’s MFA program. She has received many accolades for her work, including the Lannan Literary Fellowship (2012) and a Mac Arthur Foundation fellowship (2018), Her first poetry collection is When My Brother Was an Aztec (2012).
Postcolonial Love Poem is publication by Greywolf Press. Click here to purchase.
Postcolonial Love Poem is publication by Greywolf Press. Click here to purchase.
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