Praise Song For Oceania

I first came across this poet (Craig Santos Perez) when I first read his collection of poetry in "from unincorporated territory [lukao].”As I explored more into his works, I discovered that he primarily focused on themes consisting of his advocacy for nature, the preservation of his culture, and his overall criticisms of environmental injustices/destruction.

Specifically, in "from unincorporated territory [lukao]," he protests the overall problems of militarization, colonization, and environmental injustices within not only his native Guam, but also across the Pacific and the world in general. Through his series of short poetry, Perez weaves in techniques of pathos by tethering the abstract to the birth of his daughter in order to metaphorically describe the dire circumstances of a threatened culture, environment, and ocean. He specifically focuses on the devastating themes of extinction and coerced assimilation while also touching upon feelings of cultural displacement and artificial birth. Through a combination of visual poetry and prose, Perez also incorporates literary devices, such as oxymorons, imagery, syntax, metaphorical conceits, and irony in order to more fully grasp an overhanging eeriness of silence and bareness due to a quickly culturally and environmentally devolving Guam and Pacific.

As themes of extinction and colonialism threaten the cultural and environmental soundness of Guam and regions across the Pacific Ocean, Perez is called to defend his homeland and the world in which his daughter and future generations will one day experience. Through his struggles to stay afloat upon an Earth that is gradually crumbling beneath his feet, Perez passionately explores and advocates the heartache and severity of a disappearing people and ecosystem. In the process, he and his efforts to preserve a gradually dying culture ultimately create a voice for the voiceless and awareness for the unaware.

October 24, 2019

N.E.