Body

The representation of the body in these poems can almost seem as third person referring to something abstract and not inner related to your mental and physicality. I think that mentioning the body as something abstract is able to serve its purpose when explaining how the body is not attributed to the person. The body is seen as the only thing people notice, consuming the notion that the body not being formed as part of the whole person, rather it is a mass that can be reduced for research purposes.

The poet Angel Nafiz is able to make the meaning of the body and form poems that explain how colored bodies are many times used for educational purposes many times without our own consent.  In Nafiz’s Poem Conspiracy: A Suite, What the Doctors say to the Black girl explains tremendously the common demeaning stereotypes that are evident in the medical community when treating people of color. Often times it is this idea that people of color are over sexually active, therefore prone to more diseases, whether this is fact based or not, and people of color are more prone to those diseases I think that Nafiz, takes on a different direction when writing her poem, she purposely ignores the patient (the black girl) and gives the doctor all authority of her body disregarding her as a person and just focusing on her body.

In addition the work of Fatima Ashgar,  brings back the body and creates the body to mean what you want it to mean. As the author and owner of your own body, it is a reflection of what you want it to be, not of what others see in you or take of you, it is you giving your body life. In her poem When Tip Drill Comes on at the Frat Party or When Refusing to Twerk is a Radical Form of Self Love, even the title is very prominent with the suggestive wording of fitting into certain roles in order to be classified as good or bad.

“Sometimes it’s as simple as a look from your best friend,

alive on the dance floor, the light of her own sweet sweat to realize the powerhouse in you, to realize the sum

of your body not its dissected parts but the whole

damn breathing thing.”….

…………….

…………….

“No.

Today, this body

Is mine.”

These words are very powerful, they fight the mind and our own insecurities, our own GIVEN insecurities, to let the body dance, to be free of all of the negative stereotypes and associations that are given to our bodies and allow ourselves to enjoy the moment.