The Speaker

The speaker in "homage to my hips" speaks about herself through her own hips, calling them big, mighty, and magic. She feels empowered and liberated as a result of her self-love, and she uses humor to describe the impact her hips have on a man. The pronoun "i" does not appear until line 13, closer to the end of the poem. On the surface this appears to remove the speaker for most of the poem as she discusses the hips, but the title makes it clear that they are part of her. In paying homage to her hips, the speaker pays homage to herself. This gesture of respect is an act of resistance against the systems of oppression that seek to subjugate the speaker on account of race, gender, and body type.

The Speaker's Hips

The speaker refers to her hips as being their own sentient being. The...