A review by katie_greenwinginmymouth
Postcolonial Love Poem by Natalie DΓ­az

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

5.0

Reading this after the Nick Estes book about Standing Rock turned out to be such a great decision. Having had the grounding in the history of water protectors from the non-fiction book I really appreciated reading Natalie Diaz’s poems that speak to the indigenous relationship to water - The First Water is the Body illuminates brilliantly what Nick Estes was explaining about how the nonhuman is in a close, intimate and familial relationship with the human. So close in fact that they are one and the same thing:

𝐼 π‘Žπ‘š 𝑓𝑙𝑒𝑒𝑛𝑑 𝑖𝑛 π‘€π‘Žπ‘‘π‘’π‘Ÿ. π‘Šπ‘Žπ‘‘π‘’π‘Ÿ 𝑖𝑠 𝑓𝑙𝑒𝑒𝑛𝑑 𝑖𝑛 π‘šπ‘¦ π‘π‘œπ‘‘π‘¦ -
𝑖𝑑 π‘€π‘œπ‘˜π‘’ π‘šπ‘¦ π‘π‘œπ‘‘π‘¦ π‘–π‘›π‘‘π‘œ 𝑒π‘₯𝑖𝑠𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒.

This poem and Exhibits from the American Water Museum were the stand out poems in the book. 

Diaz has a phenomenal way with imagery, particularly animal, mineral and vegetal. Don’t be fooled into thinking that sounds pastoral though, it is raw and sensual and diamantine...

𝐼 𝑀𝑒𝑒𝑝 π‘Žπ‘™π‘Žπ‘π‘Ÿπ‘Žπ‘›π‘’π‘  - π‘‘β„Žπ‘’ π‘ π‘π‘œπ‘Ÿπ‘π‘–π‘œπ‘›π‘  π‘π‘™π‘Žπ‘‘π‘‘π‘’π‘Ÿ π‘‘π‘œ π‘‘β„Žπ‘’ π‘“π‘™π‘œπ‘œπ‘Ÿ π‘™π‘–π‘˜π‘’ π‘¦π‘’π‘™π‘™π‘œπ‘€ π‘šπ‘’π‘‘π‘Žπ‘™π‘™π‘–π‘ π‘ π‘π‘–π‘ π‘ π‘œπ‘Ÿπ‘ 

Diaz covers many topics but what binds the poems together is this deep appeal to the senses and the aching expressions of desire. As the title suggests there are also poems of love and longing, sometimes incredibly sexy such as Ode to My Beloved’s Hips. The collection as a whole forms a defiant statement of vibrant life in the face of a nation that tried to erase bodies like hers.