Yearnings for an Indigenous Past through Language

What is relevant in this book, is the lack of imagination. What is beckoning off the pages is a yearning to remember an indigenous past that has been strategically stolen from Perez's people, and to retell history from a perspective that has essentially been killed off or repressed. What I got from Hacha was the multiplicity of ways in which violence was enacted on the Chamoru natives by both the America and Japanese in the colonization of Guam. The violences include: The erasure of language, the killing of landmasses and animals, erecting statues and symbols to commemorate colonizers (false idols), and placing borders/sections to facilitate power and control over bodies and land.

Early in the book, Perez does an excellent job at embodying the properties of the achiote plant to assemble for us how violence impacts of the land. On page 17,  he writes: "you can find achiote powder in the ethnic food section aisle of some grocery stores." When seeing the words powder, I think of the word "debased" In a sense the plant has been pummeled down from its naturally organic form, and subsidized into a form that can be mass marketed, produced, and consumed by people who aren't indigenous to the land. By transitioning achiote from a plant to a powder is a metaphor for the peoples of that land have been pummeled down as well. There are a couple more references to the plant that really stick out to me as well, on page 18, the line "an attractive [the achiote][ pink flower made it a popular hedge pant in colonial gardens" is another examples of how plants that have cultural, social, and purposes are bastardized and simplified  under colonial rule. How grandmother's response is so well put; "don't touch your eyes." She is literally saying don't touch your eyes after he has placed his on the vines, but the how under colonization, colonizers only value of the plant is for its aesthetic value.

There a few other lines that really run in me as I read the book, I was specifically interested in the poems regarding Sanvitores 1) "he explains how to minimize your shadow depending on the angle of the sun (37)" (I think this an excellent anecdote about how Chamoru children coped with the abuses of using their own language in the Christian schools), and "to change your eyes depending on the thing hunted (39)." This last line reminds me of conversation Shobha Rao had regarding humanity at this Wednesday's Writers Series. She was referring to how all humans, her included, have the capacity to enact great violence, and I feel this line echoes that truth. This line in conjunction with Shobha's idea encompasses that capacity, which means, colonization is the hunting of humans by other humans. It think this lines attempts to inform us how perspective is essential in determining which sides/borders of the violence you are on.

My favorite poem from this book is "from LISIENSAN GA'LAGO" (pg. 79), and I like it the most because Perez utilizes his native language to embody the true meaning of loss. He places the words of "with words, my people, my heart" in a small box to the very left of the page with predominately English words taking up space outside of it. The literal encasing of his native words compared to the sprawled nature of the English words remind me of the need for preservation of language under colonization. Because they are boxed, he may be saving them/protecting them from the violence of the world, but also may be alluding to how the minimization of these words have now become relic to very few in world. The first line of the poem reads "with words dispossessed," and I can't help of think who has the actual possession language. Language is essential to world building, the use of language is what makes us unique on this planet, but what I feel Perez is hinting to is how his identity in affiliation with his language is marred in larger cultural context because of the ideations of borders and territories.
With that in mind, I feel this book is a final battle cry from him to preserve the history and cultures of his people. In a sense, through poetry he is interacting in colonial structures (books, interviews, English language), but does so with the attempt to hold on to a memory. I think this book is an excellent historical reference and piece that should be considered when speaking about indigenous preservation and the affects colonization has on land, peoples, and language.