Amanda
There are books that don't just enter the bloodstream—they become it. Not text but tide: a push and pull, dense with undertow. Postcolonial Love Poem is one of those. Natalie Diaz writes in a tongue heavy with sediment and blood, syllables formed by muscle and scraped from memory. The rhythms here are heartbeat, floodplain, oxygen, and drift. Water-strong and water-strange, these poems sweep readers into depths beyond the limits of language.
I read with breath caught beneath my ribs, snagged in the space between reach and retreat. What mutters in the marrow? What had I lost before I could give it a name? Not absence as an idea but absence as an anatomical fact: the hollow where a tooth was pulled, the socket still raw. Diaz's landscapes aren't metaphor—they're anatomy. Sacred cartographies stitched into tendons, breath drawn from basins and ranges, each word a stone burnished by mouths that would not forget.
Diaz writes the body the way a flash flood writes a canyon—with sudden force, patient aftermath, and sediment settling into curves. It's erosion made evident and passion worn down to a shine. Her poems render desire not as ornament but architecture. Desire constructs its own scaffolding. Touch refuses erasure. Each line spills past its margins, ignoring the usual fences. Her syntax sprawls like an arroyo after a storm—necessary, alive. Every poem carries tension at its seam: beauty snagged on brutality, taking braided with being taken, grace howling under resistance like wind through canyon walls.
Reading, I felt myself on the bank of a river I've never seen, yet somehow recognise—something stirring under the skin, salt in the throat, mud between toes. The distance here isn't only geographical. It's blood-deep—generations of forgetting can taste like copper pennies, can sound like static where stories should be. Still, recognition rang in my chest like the particular thrum a struck bell makes underwater. Diaz's water doesn't cleanse—it presses in and leaves behind sediment and salt. It's water that remembers the shape of every mouth that tried to swallow it.
What stunned me most was how Diaz treats contradiction like a live wire—only she doesn't insulate it, doesn't ground it; she just lets it spark across the page. Love is both a wound and a weapon. The colonised body contains both divinity and desecration. It's the specific friction between being witnessed and being spared, between being held and being handled. In "American Arithmetic", flesh transforms into fraction, protest, and ghost—sometimes all at once. "The First Water Is the Body" isn't a metaphor—it's an assertion, an equation, and an invocation. Every sentence costs something. Every line demands breath, blood, presence.
I reached the book's end feeling both hollowed out and heavier. Something passed close in the current—close enough to feel, too far to catch. These poems didn't offer inheritance, but they offered rhythm—footfall, heartbeat, the click of prayer beads between fingers. Perhaps I don't remember the river. But maybe the river remembers something no one taught me the shape of, and maybe that's enough. Or maybe it isn't. Diaz doesn't offer closure—only space. She lets longing settle like silt, unresolved and unashamed.
Her work isn't merely poetry. It's a pressure system. It is akin to a body of water, possessing its own unique gravitational pull. It transforms from grit to grief and then back to grace. It's a map marked by salt. I'll return to it—not for clarity but for contact. To press again against what I cannot name. To listen for that thin, familiar note—the one that travels through bedrock, through silence, through marrow.
Originally posted at www.marvelish.me.
There are books that don't just enter the bloodstream—they become it. Not text but tide: a push and pull, dense with undertow. Postcolonial Love Poem is one of those. Natalie Diaz writes in a tongue heavy with sediment and blood, syllables formed by muscle and scraped from memory. The rhythms here are heartbeat, floodplain, oxygen, and drift. Water-strong and water-strange, these poems sweep readers into depths beyond the limits of language.
I read with breath caught beneath my ribs, snagged in the space between reach and retreat. What mutters in the marrow? What had I lost before I could give it a name? Not absence as an idea but absence as an anatomical fact: the hollow where a tooth was pulled, the socket still raw. Diaz's landscapes aren't metaphor—they're anatomy. Sacred cartographies stitched into tendons, breath drawn from basins and ranges, each word a stone burnished by mouths that would not forget.
Diaz writes the body the way a flash flood writes a canyon—with sudden force, patient aftermath, and sediment settling into curves. It's erosion made evident and passion worn down to a shine. Her poems render desire not as ornament but architecture. Desire constructs its own scaffolding. Touch refuses erasure. Each line spills past its margins, ignoring the usual fences. Her syntax sprawls like an arroyo after a storm—necessary, alive. Every poem carries tension at its seam: beauty snagged on brutality, taking braided with being taken, grace howling under resistance like wind through canyon walls.
Reading, I felt myself on the bank of a river I've never seen, yet somehow recognise—something stirring under the skin, salt in the throat, mud between toes. The distance here isn't only geographical. It's blood-deep—generations of forgetting can taste like copper pennies, can sound like static where stories should be. Still, recognition rang in my chest like the particular thrum a struck bell makes underwater. Diaz's water doesn't cleanse—it presses in and leaves behind sediment and salt. It's water that remembers the shape of every mouth that tried to swallow it.
What stunned me most was how Diaz treats contradiction like a live wire—only she doesn't insulate it, doesn't ground it; she just lets it spark across the page. Love is both a wound and a weapon. The colonised body contains both divinity and desecration. It's the specific friction between being witnessed and being spared, between being held and being handled. In "American Arithmetic", flesh transforms into fraction, protest, and ghost—sometimes all at once. "The First Water Is the Body" isn't a metaphor—it's an assertion, an equation, and an invocation. Every sentence costs something. Every line demands breath, blood, presence.
I reached the book's end feeling both hollowed out and heavier. Something passed close in the current—close enough to feel, too far to catch. These poems didn't offer inheritance, but they offered rhythm—footfall, heartbeat, the click of prayer beads between fingers. Perhaps I don't remember the river. But maybe the river remembers something no one taught me the shape of, and maybe that's enough. Or maybe it isn't. Diaz doesn't offer closure—only space. She lets longing settle like silt, unresolved and unashamed.
Her work isn't merely poetry. It's a pressure system. It is akin to a body of water, possessing its own unique gravitational pull. It transforms from grit to grief and then back to grace. It's a map marked by salt. I'll return to it—not for clarity but for contact. To press again against what I cannot name. To listen for that thin, familiar note—the one that travels through bedrock, through silence, through marrow.
Originally posted at www.marvelish.me.
There are books that don’t just enter the bloodstream—they become it. Not text, but tide: a push and pull, dense with undertow. Postcolonial Love Poem is one of those. Natalie Diaz writes in a tongue heavy with sediment and blood, syllables formed by muscle and scraped from memory. The rhythms here are heartbeat, floodplain, oxygen, and drift. These poems don’t stand still at the water’s edge, waiting. River-strong and river-strange, they lurch forward, sweeping the reader into depths beyond the limits of language.
I read with breath snagged somewhere beneath the ribs, caught in the pause between reach and retreat, haunted by distance—the kind that arrives before you're born. The kind you feel in the marrow. What was lost before I knew to look for it—what still mutters in the bone? I wasn’t reading to know. I was reading to find out what knowing might feel like. And in Diaz’s hands, it is not soft. It cuts. It glows. It governs. Her landscapes aren’t metaphor—they're anatomy. Sacred cartographies stitched into tendons, breath caught from basins and ranges, each word a stone burnished by mouths that would not forget.
Diaz writes the body the way flood writes canyon—force, patience, time, and pressure into curve. It's absence made visible, passion worn down to a shine. Her poems render desire not as ornament but architecture. Defiance in the shape of want. A kind of touch that refuses to be erased. Each line spills past its margins, ignoring the usual fences. Her syntax sprawls like a river shedding its channel—defiant, necessary, alive. Every poem carries tension at its seam: beauty snagged on brutality, taking braided with being taken, resistance humming under grace like a wire under water.
Reading, I felt myself on the bank of a river I’ve never seen, yet somehow recognise it—something stirring under the skin, a current curling around the ankles of memory. I don’t have any claim to this language, or this land, or this lineage, but still, the ache was real. It rang true in my chest, like the sound that an absence makes when it passes where it used to dwell. Her water doesn’t cleanse here—it doesn’t try. It presses in and leaves salt and sediment. It's a water that remembers the shape of every mouth that tried to silence it.
What most stunned me was how Diaz can turn contradiction into a cradle. She keep it steady without smoothing it down. Over and over, love is both a wound and a weapon. Again and again, the colonised body house both divinity and desecration. It's an unresolvable friction that exists between the experiences of being seen and feeling safe, between being witnessed and being spared. In "American Arithmetic," the concept of flesh transforms into fraction, protest, and ghost—sometimes all at once. “The First Water Is the Body” is not a metaphor—it’s an assertion, an equation, and an invocation. There's no way to coast through this book, where every sentence costs something. Every line demands our breath, our blood, and our presence.
I reached the end of the book feeling both hollowed out and heavier. Something passed close in the current—close enough to feel, too far to catch. These poems didn’t give me inheritance, but they offered a a rhythm. Perhaps I don’t remember the river. But maybe—just maybe— the river remembers me, and maybe that’s enough. Or maybe it isn’t. Diaz doesn’t offer closure—only space. She lets the ache put down roots, unresolved and unashamed, and the longing is allowed to linger.
This isn’t merely poetry. It’s a pressure system. A body of water with its own gravity. Grit, grief, grace—all flowing from one mouth. The map is marked by salt. I’ll return to it—not for clarity. For contact. To brush up again against the thing I can’t name. To listen, maybe, for that thin, familiar note I've been straining toward all along.
There are books that don’t just enter the bloodstream—they become it. Not text, but tide: a push and pull, dense with undertow. Postcolonial Love Poem is one of those. Natalie Diaz writes in a tongue heavy with sediment and blood, syllables formed by muscle and scraped from memory. The rhythms here are heartbeat, floodplain, oxygen, and drift. These poems don’t stand still at the water’s edge, waiting. River-strong and river-strange, they lurch forward, sweeping the reader into depths beyond the limits of language.
I read with breath snagged somewhere beneath the ribs, caught in the pause between reach and retreat, haunted by distance—the kind that arrives before you're born. The kind you feel in the marrow. What was lost before I knew to look for it—what still mutters in the bone? I wasn’t reading to know. I was reading to find out what knowing might feel like. And in Diaz’s hands, it is not soft. It cuts. It glows. It governs. Her landscapes aren’t metaphor—they're anatomy. Sacred cartographies stitched into tendons, breath caught from basins and ranges, each word a stone burnished by mouths that would not forget.
Diaz writes the body the way flood writes canyon—force, patience, time, and pressure into curve. It's absence made visible, passion worn down to a shine. Her poems render desire not as ornament but architecture. Defiance in the shape of want. A kind of touch that refuses to be erased. Each line spills past its margins, ignoring the usual fences. Her syntax sprawls like a river shedding its channel—defiant, necessary, alive. Every poem carries tension at its seam: beauty snagged on brutality, taking braided with being taken, resistance humming under grace like a wire under water.
Reading, I felt myself on the bank of a river I’ve never seen, yet somehow recognise it—something stirring under the skin, a current curling around the ankles of memory. I don’t have any claim to this language, or this land, or this lineage, but still, the ache was real. It rang true in my chest, like the sound that an absence makes when it passes where it used to dwell. Her water doesn’t cleanse here—it doesn’t try. It presses in and leaves salt and sediment. It's a water that remembers the shape of every mouth that tried to silence it.
What most stunned me was how Diaz can turn contradiction into a cradle. She keep it steady without smoothing it down. Over and over, love is both a wound and a weapon. Again and again, the colonised body house both divinity and desecration. It's an unresolvable friction that exists between the experiences of being seen and feeling safe, between being witnessed and being spared. In "American Arithmetic," the concept of flesh transforms into fraction, protest, and ghost—sometimes all at once. “The First Water Is the Body” is not a metaphor—it’s an assertion, an equation, and an invocation. There's no way to coast through this book, where every sentence costs something. Every line demands our breath, our blood, and our presence.
I reached the end of the book feeling both hollowed out and heavier. Something passed close in the current—close enough to feel, too far to catch. These poems didn’t give me inheritance, but they offered a a rhythm. Perhaps I don’t remember the river. But maybe—just maybe— the river remembers me, and maybe that’s enough. Or maybe it isn’t. Diaz doesn’t offer closure—only space. She lets the ache put down roots, unresolved and unashamed, and the longing is allowed to linger.
This isn’t merely poetry. It’s a pressure system. A body of water with its own gravity. Grit, grief, grace—all flowing from one mouth. The map is marked by salt. I’ll return to it—not for clarity. For contact. To brush up again against the thing I can’t name. To listen, maybe, for that thin, familiar note I've been straining toward all along.
