Identify themes of feminism & love as resistance in Suheir Hammad's Zataar Diva. This was the week to finish the Arab-American readings; feel free to reference those, as well.
I want to focus specifically on the poem "Mama Sweet Baklava" for this post. This poem really struck me as special, not only because of its feminist power and its striking visual imagery, but because it just feels so special. I can feel the love between "layers thousand layers/ upon each other like/ refugees fleeing or cold." It is not just a poem about feminism - it's a love poem penned for a mother who has seen heartache and backbreak. It is a love poem for every “steel children marriage/ nation woman.” It is a poem for feminists and non feminists because it forces us to see the sad beauty of a strong woman. This poem moves me. It makes me think of my mom and why she became a feminist, and why she inspired me to do so as well. And as a man, this poem reminds me of all the things I cannot feel, all the “blood the honey the glaze” that I do not know. It reminds me that being an ally means knowing when to admit that you can’t feel what another is feeling. This is one of my favorite poems because of its striking beauty and because of the way it strikes my manly feminist heart, cutting like a knife through baklava, “cutting precise like arched/ eyerbrows and enough/ for everyone.”
I focused my blog response on the poem "We spent the 4th of July in bed" by Suheir Hammad. I just love this poem. It is filled with so much imagery that I do not know which to choose as my favourite. The poem is, as I mentioned, packed with vivid revolting images that disturb readers like me:
"Malaysian girls choose between the sex trade and hunger Phillipinas go blind constructing the computer disks poems like this are saved on..."
These images just stick in to my mind and just won't leave. It is just so amazing how she plays with the words and the harsh facts of the reality today to get at the readers. Another example of a vivid disturbing image from the poem is:
"Nagasaki girls pick maggots out of stomach sores with chopsticks Hiroshima mothers rock headless babies this head knows Palestinian youth dead absorbing rubber bullets homes demolished trees uprooted roots dispersed..."
The line "Hiroshima mothers rock headless babies" just amazed me. I know how visceral and repulsive the image is, and yet the image is so well written that I can not avoid thinking about the image over and over again. Despite the disturbing imageries in the poem, Suheir Hammad also include the intimate cuddles and actions of lovers to soften the poem alittle bit:
"our touch is not free it comes with responsibility even as we lay in all this good feeling people lay in dirt vomit."
But the poem never loses its seriousness in regard to the problem that is at hand and facing the lovers even as they lay cuddled up together in bed. The title also suggests the same essence. Suheir Hammad then uses both disturbing images and the soft intimate approaches of romance to address the fact that things need to be done to stop the problem that is at hand:
"now hold me a little while longer just a bit cause we gotta get up soon there's a war on outside come on now baby we got work to do."
The poem is entirely just romantic as well as solemn in its address to the epidemic problem. I just love this poem! :)
Oh I forgot to mention how she address the "girls" and "mothers" in her poem to specify the feminism in her voice as well as add more emphasis to her love as resistance voice.
Will would choose to talk about the Baklava poem hahaha :)
I also want to talk about the poem by Suheir Hammad, "We spent the 4th of July in bed". I loved the poem and found it to be extremely powerful, especially when we watched the video of her performing it in class. The poem is just so relatable because the things she expresses are similar to thoughts that go through my head regularly. Here I am, getting an education, going out with my friends, loving life, meanwhile there are wars going on, sex trafficking, people are living without homes. It's unfair and almost irresponsible.... And the imagery that she uses is so incredibly powerful, it sticks to me and makes me think about how lucky I am, and how important it is that I continue with my majors and try to make a difference when I graduate. I want to be that difference and the final stanza, which is definitely my favorite, makes me feel hopeful and like I can be. I also find it to be so passionate, romantic and just filled with so much love. It's such a powerful poem. And it ends so beautifully and perfectly. I can read it over and over, it just never get old or loses meaning. This poem inspires me and is the prime example of the poet I'd love to be.
Zaatar Diva has themes of feminism and love as resistance running throughout. Hammad's "4:02 p.m." shows a transnational approach to feminism as it is tells the stories of three women -- from Haiti, Tunisia, and Brooklyn. Concerning three regions from the world, Hammad's poem recognizes that women everywhere face a struggle. "Glitter Girl" is an interesting poem where Hammad's love for herself serves as a form of resistance. She has been through hardship. She writes, "I broke into shards". These broken pieces of herself, like shards of glass, shine like glitter. In spite of her pain, and in fact, because of it, she writes, "and now/i glitter/still/i shine".
"We spent the 4th of July in bed" by Suheir Hammad.
We Spent the 4th of July in bed, poem tackles the complex themes that plague romantic relationships between “social justice couscous” lovers. On a deeper level, Hammad’s poem brings up the question, “how do you fully enjoy love, without feeling guilty, when there is so much horribleness currently happening?”
Hammad states, “Even now,” as she lays in bed, "Malaysian girls choose between the sex trade and hunger.” This is a dilemma that my partner and I are constantly faced with. While we enjoy spending time in our conformable room sharing our love for each other, we both know there is so much suffering happening around the world. Mainly it’s a feeling of guilt. Somehow it doesn’t feel right tHowever, we know that this time
I really appreciate Hammad’s poem. I can relate to what she is saying. More importantly, Hammads words gave me a different perspective with the feeling of guilt experienced when “spending all day in bed watching movies with your loved one.”
Hammad exclaims, "our touch is not free it comes with responsibility even as we lay in all this good feeling people lay in dirt vomit." This line is something that any social justice oriented relationship should have written on their bathroom mirror. It is both a reminder and a motivator. In a relationship with privileges, the time together it not free. For example, the simple act of attending Disney land (a staple for any so-cal young/fresh relationship) involves the exploitation of thousands of people. Despite popular belief, Splash Mountain is operated by magical fairies. Rather, most likely, non-college educated, close to minimum wage workers support and creates your romantic experience at Disneyland.
But love is love. Dates are dates. Everyone and every relationship require time to recharge to face the world. Hammad ends with, "now hold me a little while longer just a bit cause we gotta get up soon there's a war on outside come on now baby we got work to do." These are beautiful and meaningful words. This poem has taught me how to better handle a relationship. Every relationship needs to protect and grow itself from the harshness of the world. However, that is no excuse to spend everyday in bed.
I want to focus specifically on the poem "Mama Sweet Baklava" for this post. This poem really struck me as special, not only because of its feminist power and its striking visual imagery, but because it just feels so special. I can feel the love between "layers thousand layers/ upon each other like/ refugees fleeing or cold." It is not just a poem about feminism - it's a love poem penned for a mother who has seen heartache and backbreak. It is a love poem for every “steel children marriage/ nation woman.” It is a poem for feminists and non feminists because it forces us to see the sad beauty of a strong woman. This poem moves me. It makes me think of my mom and why she became a feminist, and why she inspired me to do so as well. And as a man, this poem reminds me of all the things I cannot feel, all the “blood the honey the glaze” that I do not know. It reminds me that being an ally means knowing when to admit that you can’t feel what another is feeling. This is one of my favorite poems because of its striking beauty and because of the way it strikes my manly feminist heart, cutting like a knife through baklava, “cutting precise like arched/ eyerbrows and enough/ for everyone.”
ReplyDeleteI focused my blog response on the poem "We spent the 4th of July in bed" by Suheir Hammad. I just love this poem. It is filled with so much imagery that I do not know which to choose as my favourite. The poem is, as I mentioned, packed with vivid revolting images that disturb readers like me:
ReplyDelete"Malaysian girls choose
between the sex trade
and hunger
Phillipinas go blind
constructing the computer disks
poems like this are saved on..."
These images just stick in to my mind and just won't leave. It is just so amazing how she plays with the words and the harsh facts of the reality today to get at the readers. Another example of a vivid disturbing image from the poem is:
"Nagasaki girls pick maggots out of stomach sores
with chopsticks
Hiroshima mothers rock headless babies
this head knows Palestinian youth
dead absorbing rubber bullets
homes demolished
trees uprooted
roots dispersed..."
The line "Hiroshima mothers rock headless babies" just amazed me. I know how visceral and repulsive the image is, and yet the image is so well written that I can not avoid thinking about the image over and over again. Despite the disturbing imageries in the poem, Suheir Hammad also include the intimate cuddles and actions of lovers to soften the poem alittle bit:
"our touch is not free
it comes with responsibility
even as we lay
in all this good feeling
people lay in dirt
vomit."
But the poem never loses its seriousness in regard to the problem that is at hand and facing the lovers even as they lay cuddled up together in bed. The title also suggests the same essence. Suheir Hammad then uses both disturbing images and the soft intimate approaches of romance to address the fact that things need to be done to stop the problem that is at hand:
"now hold me
a little while longer
just a bit
cause we gotta get up soon
there's a war on outside
come on now baby
we got work to do."
The poem is entirely just romantic as well as solemn in its address to the epidemic problem. I just love this poem! :)
Oh I forgot to mention how she address the "girls" and "mothers" in her poem to specify the feminism in her voice as well as add more emphasis to her love as resistance voice.
ReplyDeleteWill would choose to talk about the Baklava poem hahaha :)
ReplyDeleteI also want to talk about the poem by Suheir Hammad, "We spent the 4th of July in bed". I loved the poem and found it to be extremely powerful, especially when we watched the video of her performing it in class. The poem is just so relatable because the things she expresses are similar to thoughts that go through my head regularly. Here I am, getting an education, going out with my friends, loving life, meanwhile there are wars going on, sex trafficking, people are living without homes. It's unfair and almost irresponsible.... And the imagery that she uses is so incredibly powerful, it sticks to me and makes me think about how lucky I am, and how important it is that I continue with my majors and try to make a difference when I graduate. I want to be that difference and the final stanza, which is definitely my favorite, makes me feel hopeful and like I can be. I also find it to be so passionate, romantic and just filled with so much love. It's such a powerful poem. And it ends so beautifully and perfectly. I can read it over and over, it just never get old or loses meaning. This poem inspires me and is the prime example of the poet I'd love to be.
Zaatar Diva has themes of feminism and love as resistance running throughout. Hammad's "4:02 p.m." shows a transnational approach to feminism as it is tells the stories of three women -- from Haiti, Tunisia, and Brooklyn. Concerning three regions from the world, Hammad's poem recognizes that women everywhere face a struggle.
ReplyDelete"Glitter Girl" is an interesting poem where Hammad's love for herself serves as a form of resistance. She has been through hardship. She writes, "I broke into shards". These broken pieces of herself, like shards of glass, shine like glitter. In spite of her pain, and in fact, because of it, she writes, "and now/i glitter/still/i shine".
"We spent the 4th of July in bed" by Suheir Hammad.
ReplyDeleteWe Spent the 4th of July in bed, poem tackles the complex themes that plague romantic relationships between “social justice couscous” lovers. On a deeper level, Hammad’s poem brings up the question, “how do you fully enjoy love, without feeling guilty, when there is so much horribleness currently happening?”
Hammad states, “Even now,” as she lays in bed, "Malaysian girls choose between the sex trade and hunger.” This is a dilemma that my partner and I are constantly faced with. While we enjoy spending time in our conformable room sharing our love for each other, we both know there is so much suffering happening around the world. Mainly it’s a feeling of guilt.
Somehow it doesn’t feel right tHowever, we know that this time
I really appreciate Hammad’s poem. I can relate to what she is saying. More importantly, Hammads words gave me a different perspective with the feeling of guilt experienced when “spending all day in bed watching movies with your loved one.”
Hammad exclaims, "our touch is not free it comes with responsibility even as we lay in all this good feeling people lay in dirt vomit." This line is something that any social justice oriented relationship should have written on their bathroom mirror. It is both a reminder and a motivator. In a relationship with privileges, the time together it not free. For example, the simple act of attending Disney land (a staple for any so-cal young/fresh relationship) involves the exploitation of thousands of people. Despite popular belief, Splash Mountain is operated by magical fairies. Rather, most likely, non-college educated, close to minimum wage workers support and creates your romantic experience at Disneyland.
But love is love. Dates are dates. Everyone and every relationship require time to recharge to face the world. Hammad ends with, "now hold me a little while longer just a bit cause we gotta get up soon there's a war on outside come on now baby we got work to do." These are beautiful and meaningful words. This poem has taught me how to better handle a relationship. Every relationship needs to protect and grow itself from the harshness of the world. However, that is no excuse to spend everyday in bed.