In On Colonized Ground, Rebecca Dietrich delivers a powerful exploration of identity, legacy, and resilience. This evocative collection confronts colonialism and the resulting pain and generational trauma.
Her vivid imagery and stark prose evoke a visceral response. On Colonized Ground is a call to witness, remember, and act. Dietrich's commanding voice demands attention, urging readers to confront uncomfortable truths and seek justice and healing.
In On Colonized Ground, Rebecca Dietrich delivers a powerful exploration of identity, legacy, and resilience. This evocative collection confronts colonialism and the resulting pain and generational trauma.
Her vivid imagery and stark prose evoke a visceral response. On Colonized Ground is a call to witness, remember, and act. Dietrich's commanding voice demands attention, urging readers to confront uncomfortable truths and seek justice and healing.
My roots run deep in this sacred land.
My ancestors lived and died here,
Long before the White man came.
"Our people met their people
when they got off the boat,"
As my grandfather used to say.
Yet we were the ones pushed around.
Gatsy was born in Georgia,
Her daughter Mahala in Oklahoma
And her daughter Buena too.
Grandpa Berry was born in Colorado
And my mother Nancy in Arizona.
She had me here in New Jersey.
When the time comes, I know
My children and their children
Will call Turtle Island home.
On Colonized Ground is the new poetry collection from author Rebecca Dietrich. A short collection of twenty one poems, in Dietrich's own words, this a collection which aims to explore "identity, legacy, and resilience", while also confronting "colonialism and the resulting pain and generational trauma."
Within this standalone collection, poems range from the short (and not so sweet), including "The Last Lullaby", to poems which are broader in length, such as is the case with "The Road to Dorothy", which tips into a second page. The book also includes the previously published "Taken", which featured in the 2023 anthology, S/He Speaks: Voices of Women and Trans Folx. A personal favourite of the collection is "Gen Z", which succinctly highlights the challenges faced by the younger generation(s), past and present.
The poems within On Colonized Ground are, superficially, good. They all set a striking cord of frustration and resilience, set within first person narrative (presumably that of the author herself). This tone of voice and perspective is effective, however toward the end it starts to feel a little repetitive and lacking an injection of variety. A poem such as "Collapse", retold through the perspective of nature as it watches the world crumble around them, would have been an interesting avenue to take, as opposed to the human narrator blasting an unnamed person, or group. This is spit-balling here, but in essence this broadly is where the collection lacks. It needs a differing perspective to make the reader truly walk away from this collection with more questions than answers, and a greater drive to want to be that instrument of change.
As poetry collections go, On Colonized Ground marks a solid starting point from Dietrich. With a bit more thought into wider voices and perspectives, the only way is up.
AEB Reviews