The design and UX isn't done, Rob and Abbie, okkurrrr! đ
katharina90's review against another edition
5.0
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 thighsâlilac-lit pools of ablution.
  Take my body and make of itâ
     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 juiceâone 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.
Americaâs 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 asâ
Who wins the race that isnât a race?
Native Americans make up 1.9 percent of all police killings, higher per capita than any raceâ
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
Moderate: Police brutality, Colonisation, Racism, and Violence
Minor: Sexual content and Addiction
mandkips's review against another edition
4.25
Graphic: Violence, Blood, and Racism
Moderate: Addiction, Gun violence, and Sexual content
Minor: Colonisation, Genocide, and Death
lowbrowhighart's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Misogyny, Violence, Racism, and Blood
Moderate: Death, Sexual content, Addiction, Gun violence, Mental illness, Genocide, Colonisation, War, and Self harm
thecolourblue's review against another edition
4.5
Diaz explores the concept of the human body as a body of water - merging biological science with Native American mythology to form her own personal and political narrative - as well as the environmental dangers posed to the bodies of water on American land. It's a heady and commanding combination of metaphorical and literal rivers, and, of course, droughts. One of the more overtly political poems on this theme is the excellent 'Exhibits from the American Water Museum', told as a series of informational signs on the walls of a future exhibit about water, drought, Native culture, and colonialism.
Let me tell you a story about water:
Once upon a time there was us.
Americaâs thirst tried to drink us away.
And here we still are.
True to Diaz' previous work, there are flashes of startling humor, both in the Water Museum poems and in some of the included poems about love and sex. There are a number of sweet and erotic poems exploring the writer's queer identity and seemingly, paying homage to past or present lovers.
Also continuing a thread from Diaz' first collection, When My Brother Was An Aztec (which I loved), are tales of her family, and particularly her brother and his struggles with addiction. These poems are vignetted memories, some frightening, some achingly joyful.Â
I think I do prefer Diaz' first collection to this one, but this is still a masterful work from a poet fully embodied in her own power and vision.Â
Moderate: Addiction and Sexual content
krys_kilz's review against another edition
4.5
My favorite poems in the collection were: Manhattan Is a Lenape Word, American Arithmetic, They Don't Love You Like I Love You, The First Water Is the Body, exhibits from The American Water Museum, and Isn't the Air Also a Body, Moving?
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Colonisation and Genocide
gabbygarcia's review against another edition
4.25
This is my knee, since she touches me there.
This is my throat, as defined by her reaching.
This collection is something really special. Itâs not immediately accessible, but once you peel back the layers of each poem (scrolling through the dictionary a few timesâŚ), itâs so worth the work. Some favorites of mine include âManhattan is a Lenape Wordâ, âAmerican Arithmeticâ, âThey Donât Love You Like I Love Youâ, âThe First Body Is The Waterâ, âexhibits from The American Water Museumâ, and âIsnât the Air Also a Body, Moving?â. Too many favorites! I love the way she writes about water, light, language, and the body. I love how she connects the poems to one another through vocabulary and metaphor. Absolutely excellent and stunning.Â
Minor: Blood, Colonisation, Death, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Hate crime, Murder, Racism, Sexual content, and Violence