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Section 1: "Postcolonial Love Poem" through "From the Desire Field"

• The following version of this book was used to create this Lesson Plan: Diaz, Natalie. Postcolonial Love Poem. Graywolf Press, 2020. Paperback.

• "Postcolonial Love Poem" is a free-verse poem of just over a page, containing no smaller stanza units. It occupies its own section of the book and is preceded by a Joy Harjo quote: "I am singing a song that can only be born after losing a country" (iii).

• The poem begins with the statement: "I've been taught bloodstones can cure a snakebite,/ can stop the bleeding--most people forgot this/ when the war ended" (1).

• Diaz then introduces a note of ambiguity by pointing out that there have been countless wars of many kinds, including "those which started me, which I lost and won" (1).

• She connects waging war to "waging" love: "always another campaign to march across/ a desert night...

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