Reviews with content warning for Colonisation - Postcolonial Love Poem

This collection is so many things at once! Postcolonial Love Poem is a condemnation of American imperialism historical and present. Postcolonial Love Poem is a testament to indigenous joy in spite of oppression. Postcolonial Love Poem is a lament for the way trauma affects family. Postcolonial Love Poem is a celebration of sapphic sensuality.

Here are some of my favorite passages, which hopefully illustrate my short review:

"Let me call my anxiety, desire, then. Let me call it, a garden."

"Maps are ghosts: white and layered with people and places I see through."

"But in an American room of one hundred people,
I am Native American—less than one, less than
whole—I am less than myself. Only a fraction
of a body, let’s say, I am only a hand-
and when I slip it beneath the shirt of my lover I disappear completely."

"All this time,
I thought my mother said, Wait,
as in, Give them a little more time
to know your worth,
when really, she said, Weight,
meaning heft, preparing me
for the yoke of myself
the beast of my country's burdens,
which is less worse than
my country's plow."

Content Warnings

bookishmillennial's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

disclaimer: I don’t really give starred reviews. I hope my reviews provide enough information to let you know if a book is for you or not. Find me here: https://linktr.ee/bookishmillennial

Lush prose teeming with justified anger, disillusionment, and exhaustion. I highly recommend this collection of poetry, and “The First Water Is The Body” was my favorite poem. It commented on rivers and humans as mirrors, and not so different. Both worthy of protection, dignity, and reverence.

Overall, this was a thought-provoking and evocative collection of poems, forcing U.S.ians especially to confront our shameful, oppressive, and violent history. I will definitely be buying a physical copy for my home library.

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robinks's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

4.75

I really enjoyed a bunch of these works, although the order of the poems didn’t make sense to me. I particularly liked Run’n’Gun.

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spicycronereads's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny reflective medium-paced

4.5

This is not the kind of poetry that you sink into. This is the kind of poetry where you tiptoe around its jagged edges and appreciate the view from a distance.

Diaz‘s collection of poetry deals with the violence of ongoing colonization, but also the restorative power of love and heritage. Not in a way that alleviates any of us from responsibility, but in a way that suggests a path towards a better future. She does this with haunting lyricism and, often, black humor. I’ve no doubt that not being queer or indigenous there are subtleties of language and imagery that I missed. But I still found it a powerful read.

Favorites in this collection are “American Arithmetic,” “Top Ten Reasons Indians are Good at Basketball,” “Snake-light,” and “Cranes, Mafiosos, and a Polaroid Camera,” which deals with her relationship with her brother who has substance abuse and mental health issues.

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katharina90's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

5.0

Many of the poems in this collection either deeply moved me, educated me, or made me laugh out loud.

Favorites include:
-American Arithmetic
-If I Should Come Upon Your House Lonely in the West Texas Desert
-Top Ten Reasons Why Indians Are Good at Basketball
-exhibits from The American Water Museum

"I have a name, yet no one who will say it not roughly.
I am your Native,
and this is my American labyrinth.
Here I am, at your thighs—lilac-lit pools of ablution.
Take my body and make of it—
a Nation, a confession.
Through you even I can be clean."
From: I, Minotaur

"2.
Because a long time ago, Creator gave us a choice: You can write like an Indian god, or you can have a jump shot sweeter than a 44oz. can of government grape juice—one or the other. Everyone but Sherman Alexie chose the jump shot."
From: Top Ten Reasons Why Indians Are Good at Basketball

"Only water can change water, can heal itself. Not even God
made water. Not on any of the seven days. It was already here.
Or maybe God is water, because I am water, and you are water."
From: exhibits from The American Water Museum

"Art of Fact:
Let me tell you a story about water:
Once upon a time there was us.
America’s thirst tried to drink us away.
And here we still are."
From: exhibits from The American Water Museum

"Police kill Native Americans more
than any other race. Race is a funny word.
Race implies someone will win,
implies, I have as good a chance of winning as—

Who wins the race that isn’t a race?

Native Americans make up 1.9 percent of all police killings, higher per capita than any race—

sometimes race means run."
From: American Arithmetic

"At the National Museum of the American Indian,
68 percent of the collection is from the United States.
I am doing my best to not become a museum
of myself. I am doing my best to breathe in and out.

I am begging: Let me be lonely but not invisible."
From: American Arithmetic

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jessereadsthings's review against another edition

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challenging informative fast-paced

4.0

Really good, but not a favorite. Also, I really enjoyed hearing about her insights and inspirations at the end. Definitely makes me want to do a reread in the future with these things in mind!

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ukponge's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

4.75

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