Muse Found in a Colonized Body

by Yesenia Montilla

In the book's eponymous poem, Yesenia Montilla writes, “How do you not love yourself when you / constantly survive your undoing just by being precious?" Muse Found in a Colonized Body answers this rhetorical question by populating itself with poems that range far and wide in content — observing pop culture, interrogating history, resisting contemporary injustice — but that share the spinal cord of unflinching love. As Rachel Eliza Griffiths notes, Montilla’s “powers orbit and intuit the lives of Philando Castile, Captain America, Christian Cooper, Karl Marx, Ahmaud Arbery, Eartha Kitt, and many more while stitching our wounded identities, memories, and histories in defiant poems of revision and joyous reclamation.” The vertebral odes of this collection at turns uplift desire, affirm life, celebrate protest, and condemn the violent greed of imperial usurpation that has produced the U.S. as we know it. Both in its criticism and its admiration, Muse Found in a Colonized Body calls upon its readers to rise to the occasion of these lyrics’ profound care.

Genres: Poetry, Grad School

112 pages, Paperback

Published September 15, 2022

Reviews

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fiercely vulnerable, these poems range through octaves that rooted in the brutal realities of our current times to high lyrical beauty. At turns heartbreaking and humorous, Montilla reminds me to be fully present in all aspects of living- poetry, love, and activism. A must read!

[⋆.˚ livia .☘︎ ݁˖ · Rating 5 out of 5]

the first collection i’ve read for class that i LOVED. yesenia montilla gave an interview via zoom to our class today and she’s fantastic.

[Caroline Ashworth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked a lot of poems in this collection ("Naming the Baby," "Muse Found in South Carolina," etc.). They were very thought-provoking and I was able to learn a lot by researching the context surrounding a lot of the poems. The collection was overall intriguing and enjoyable to read.

[Crystal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lover, I beg you gift me a revolution—

(from “Karl Marx as Muse”)

I don’t like coyness, if I love you I will take your mouth first because that is where the breath lives, does that make me a wolf, or does this: when I am near you I shackle my intentions & feasts with my eyes, I won’t dare eat of your flesh. How could I? It would be like the snake that eats itself from the tail, eventually it chokes on everything, its rough scales, its heart all colonized & tender, the whole world becomes its body half-eaten & dragging in the dirt—

(from “MUSE FOUND IN A COLONIZED BODY”)

When I am hungry I eat
with my eyes
first. So much so that by the time
everyone has said grace
& is digging in, I am
full. I am the same
with love. & sometimes
I am the same with a great
idea. & these two things
might seem mutually
exclusive
but they are not—all love
starts off as a great idea
& all heartbreak is due to
poor execution.

(from “MUSE FOUND IN A COLONIZED BODY”)

[Patricia N. McLaughlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Favorite Poems:
“Muse Found in a Colonized Body I.”
“Manifest Destiny”
“Maps” $
“Some Notes on Being Human”
“A Poem with Birds in It”
“Muse Found in South Carolina”
“Muse Found in a Colonized Body IV.”
“Searching for My Own Body”
“Masturbating to a G”
“Muse Found in a Colonized Body V.”
“Hamilton Heights Starbucks” $
“Naming the Baby”
“Muse Found in a Colonized Body VI.”
“Letting Go”
“Confession”
“Elegy”
“Complicated Muse” $
“Notes on Self-Care”
“Muse Found in a Colonized Body IX.”
“Muse Found in a Colonized Body X.”
“Muse Found in a Cracked Spine”

[J · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful collection of hard truths I think about daily. By tackling the implications of silence, desire, fear and courage, Yesenia Montilla speaks to the colonized bodies in ways no other can. Using erotic language, revolutionary metaphors and humanized vocabulary, she transformed my mindset of how we live and commune with each other. I can not praise this work of art enough.

A MUST READ !!!

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

"In this dead world
full of the dying
I no longer care about losing my
dress or my heart.

I only care about revolution
& the ugly business of revenge.

Between the knife handle & it's blade,
that is the only home I know
that gives true pleasure-"

This collection was magnificent!!

[Skylar Miklus · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is dynamite, this is everything. The language, prosody, and sentence work (and the tension between those elements) are so impressive. Too many favorite poems to list, including "Violin," "Searching for My Own Body," and of course the title poem.

[Katherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

excellent!

[Omotara James · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautifully crafted, love song to Blackness. A spell of the diaspora. Full of conviction and courage. Enchanted!

[Lea]

A modern reference look at the colonized body experience.

[Molly Duplaga · Rating 5 out of 5]

anti-colonial, explores histories of racism and misogyny and how they overlap, but EROTIC. loved