Summary

In the opening poem, “Postcolonial Love Poem,” the speaker refers to many wars fought over millennia, both literal and metaphorical. She describes herself in a desert with an intense thirst, which is quenched by the beloved. One day it will rain and the desert will be flooded, but until then she and the beloved touch during the ongoing war.

This is followed by an epigraph from Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish: "We admitted that we were human beings and melted for love in this desert" (3).

In “Blood-Light,” Diaz describes her older brother brandishing a knife at her father. Diaz weeps, and her tears become scorpions. The scorpions neutralize her brother, but he rises again, approaching Diaz with the knife, asking, “Don't you want a little light in your belly?” (5). She feels this is a form of love.

In “These Hands, If Not Gods,” Diaz...