Exploring Love and Identity in Natalie Diaz's Postcolonial Poem

A.E.A.E.: I read "Postcolonial Love Poem" because communities across the US are reading it and holding discussion groups. That piqued my interest. I loved everything about the book - Diaz's honesty and vulnerability - that it included languages other than English - her clear mastery of poetic language and form - her bravery in tackling topics that for majority Americans probably are difficult to swallow - her writing creatively about the importance of basketball. Her poems provide an authentic window into a contemporary reality for Native Americans in today's America. There are many love poems celebrating gay love. Every single love poem was sensitive and wonderful. Sometimes the vocabulary in the book was obscure and for me a bit over my head (I am not a native English speaker). But that was a good thing because I looked up every single word Diaz introduced me to. Cannot recommend enough for all readers: poets and non-poets alike.

United States on Feb 06, 2024

Bethany Robison: this is my favorite poetry book I read this year and I enjoyed sharing it with others.

United States on Oct 14, 2023

Amy Eycott: Well written

United Kingdom on Sep 12, 2023

Trish Saunders: From the first line on the first poem,
"I"ve been taught bloodstones can cure a snakebite," to the last line in the Dedication that ends this remarkable collection,
"toward all we have been born for, and carry, and have yet to become of love."
Natalie Diaz stuns with a collection that justly won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 2021.

United States on Aug 16, 2023

zed: Absolutely love her style of writing! Truly an enjoyable experience of reading her words. Can’t wait to read more of her works

United Kingdom on Dec 05, 2022

The Ros Family: While I myself am not an avid reader of poems or poem collections, when given the chance to read this book through one of my college courses, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed my read of Postcolonial Love Poem.
Without spoiling too much about it’s contents, the book is a blend of a variety of poems tying into the author’s experience growing up as a Native American, her identity as both Native American and a lesbian woman, as well as her unfiltered affection for her lover coming through in writing.
As I wrote back in the first sentence of my review, I noted that I am hardly an avid reader of poetry or poem collections. I mention that partially to explain how I came across this book, but more importantly to share where exactly my point of view comes from. While my typical genres are romance and realistic fiction, the extent of poetry I partook in before I had read this book essentially boils down to either basic poetry back from childhood or nothing at all. As such, my comprehension of the writing fell off at certain points along the way, but besides those brief moments, most of the poems were beautifully crafted and catered to the genres I already...

United States on May 18, 2022

MR P C G GREEN: Loved this book of poetry. The title poem is stunning and its quality writing all the way through.

United Kingdom on Feb 08, 2021

David Woo: I admire that the aspirations of Postcolonial Love Poem are grand and restless and world-devouring as literature strives to be, while re-orienting the foundational stories of western culture—the Greek myths (“I, Minotaur”), the Bible (“It Was the Animals”)—with the fresh perspective of a Mojave woman, a basketball player, a voracious reader, a queer artist. Fluently the poems traverse and sustain different scales of subject matter, from love’s intimacy to our nation’s dark history to the otherness of the gods. The luminous specificity about a landscape and context that I share (the deserts of the Southwest, an identity as a queer artist of color) does its part for what is one of the most important cultural acts of our times: to widen the embrace of the culture to those whose lives were previously unknown, discounted, elided.

United States on Jul 06, 2020

Lyn: First time reading Natalie Diaz, I'm in awe of how beautifully she writes.

United Kingdom on Jun 10, 2020

Elizabeth Scroop: I was so excited to receive this collection, after reading all of the wonderful reviews. I was not disappointed! Raw and emotional, lyrical and moving - I am loving every nuance and each crafted line. Highly recommended.

United Kingdom on May 12, 2020