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A review by the_readingraven
No Country for Eight-Spot Butterflies: A Lyric Essay by Julian Aguon
informative
reflective
fast-paced
4.0
“…the first step to growing a global heart is letting it break into hundreds of pieces.”
This is a short read but it packs a punch! Aguon's "No Country for Eight-Spot Butterflies" is a collection of essays and poems about colonization, environmental justice, and Indigenous rights from a Pacific Islander perspective. Everything said in this book is very important and something I think all people need to be more aware of. I learned a lot about Guam and the Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia areas. Specifically how the US can't seem to keep their hands out of other people's business, ugh. I appreciate how Aguon calls out colonization, even mentioning the then dynamics in Palestine! This was published in 2022 might I add! I also love how Aguon gives his flowers to all of the amazing activists and authors who came before him. I heard many names I am familiar with and wrote down a few people I am interested in learning more from.
My only issue is that I don't feel like this is a "lyrical essay". I was expecting more long poems and prose but it's more like essays with a few short poems mixed in. It's still a great collection, just not what I pictured. I would still recommend it!
This is a short read but it packs a punch! Aguon's "No Country for Eight-Spot Butterflies" is a collection of essays and poems about colonization, environmental justice, and Indigenous rights from a Pacific Islander perspective. Everything said in this book is very important and something I think all people need to be more aware of. I learned a lot about Guam and the Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia areas. Specifically how the US can't seem to keep their hands out of other people's business, ugh. I appreciate how Aguon calls out colonization, even mentioning the then dynamics in Palestine! This was published in 2022 might I add! I also love how Aguon gives his flowers to all of the amazing activists and authors who came before him. I heard many names I am familiar with and wrote down a few people I am interested in learning more from.
My only issue is that I don't feel like this is a "lyrical essay". I was expecting more long poems and prose but it's more like essays with a few short poems mixed in. It's still a great collection, just not what I pictured. I would still recommend it!