Postcolonial Love Poem

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 2020

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Themes

The Resilience of Indigenous People

The poem emphasizes the violence that Indigenous peoples have experienced. They bleed so much that the speaker still remembers how to heal a wound even though “most people forgot this / when the war ended” (Lines 2-3). Yet this violence is not just genocide and physical violence, it is also cultural and emotional. The ambiguity of “which war you mean” (Line 4) alludes not just to the multitudes of military battles, but also to the internal conflict the speaker is experiencing in her relationship and her life.

While the poem is filled with images of war and violence, the speaker persists. Like rocks and seeds, the speaker holds on to her own beauty and hopes, though they have been dormant and may “take up to twenty years to bloom” (Line 21). Despite concerted efforts to erase her culture, it endures. Knowledge that “most people forgot” (Line 2) have been passed onto the speaker. The memory of the message “their god whispered” (Line 25) is still with the speaker. In the end, her image of a beautiful paradise is that of her people’s land, with wildflowers blooming in the desert and water flooding the dry riverbeds.

The Ongoing Violence of Colonialism

The poem begins by describing the violence of invasion and wars. These battles started “millennia ago and onward” (Line 5). The speaker alludes to historical violence that has decimated her people. Yet she makes sure to show the ongoing violence Indigenous people experience through assimilationist policies. The lasting legacy of colonialism informs her life and her relationship with a white woman. Her sexual experiences with her lover are at war. The speaker views their relationship as a “campaign” (Line 9) where she “wage[s] love” (Line 8). She even sees her lover as an enemy, and she must “dismount [her] dark horse, bend to [her] there, [and] deliver” her from danger (Line 12). Despite her desire for her lover, her lover’s skin is still a “cannon flash” (Line 10). While love can transform and heal her in some ways, she still lives in a settler-colonialist society. Healing may “come, or not” (Line 39). The violence of colonialism is ongoing as “the war never ended and somehow begins again” (Line 41).

The Destructive and Healing Power of Love

For the speaker, love can be both destructive and healing. Her relationship with a white woman extends the destruction enacted by colonialism even though the relationship itself is not violent. They “pleasure to hurt” (Line 15) each other. Each touch “leaves marks / the size of stones” (Lines 15-16). The bruises reflect the violence of interactions between colonized and colonizers, even though their actions are filled with love. The relationship also perpetuates cultural assimilation. Her erotic desire for her partner is one of her “thirsts” (Line 13), despite white culture being a “country of drought” (Line 14) for her. The colonizer culture does not nourish her.

The transformative power of her lover reinforces the healing powers of love. Her lover makes her wounds into “a cabochon polished” (Line 16) by her lover’s mouth. These stones have been cleaned and polished, reforming them into things of beauty. The couple’s love reminds the speaker to “Wake up and ache for your life” (Line 26). Love, while painful, is still transformative and healing. Yet in the face of continuing cultural erasure, love’s ability to heal is limited as the war continues.