On the 18^th of October we concluded our Writing as Healing seminar. We discussed all we had covered in this past few months. To take it together, the topics we had focused and which I have blogged about was as following: Water, Unlearning, Rape, War and Immigration, Patriarchal wounds, Silence, Identity and Religion. An underlying theme that was evident in all the above themes was that of Colonialism. I am going to briefly recap some of the above themes and the poets we have discussed that accompanies it. I will then conclude with the discussion of Colonialism.

With Unlearning we discussed two poems in particular, Graduation by Koleka Putuma and another poem which fails to reach my memory at this moment. These poems focused on how our parents teach us things, but you unlearn them, then re-learn or practice it again when being in their presence. A  topic of discussion that arose, which I found the most intriguing was that of unlearning the things that you were thought but no longer agree with. This is evident in the Graduation where Putuma writes:

When your mother asks

Where you left the things, she gave you

You will want to say, I am unlearning them

But unlearning is not a real place or destination

So you will choose to say you don’t know and apologize out of habit

Concerning the theme of War and Immigration, we discussed Warshan Shire’s poem called Souvenir. Here we discussed the social and physical traits that pointed out immigrants. With reference to the title, one thinks of traveling, something special or a holiday. When discussing this poem, we see that the title is just a set-up. The immigrants are the souvenir and remembrance of war, death, conflict and traumatic experiences.

Regarding the theme of rape, we again discussed the work of Koleka Putuma. We specifically discussed OH DEAR GOD, PLEASE! NOT ANOTHER RAPE POEM. When speaking to Putuma she said the reason for titling it in this manner was because that was listeners reaction when the topic of rape arises. The poem discusses how rape is done by those you trust the most and not taken serious when a victim speaks up about it.

Colonialism is inherently violent. We discussed the Native Americans/ Native Indians that was colonized by Americans and how they were just seen as object to move and attempt to wipe out the culture and race. They do not feel home, at home.