Fred D'Aguiar's surreal poems like "Mama Dot" and "Air Hall Iconography" stir up imagery of the African homeland and convey a sense of detachment from the modern world. This detachment is not apathetic, but rather, D'Aguiar poignantly portrays the plight of colonized Africans. The poet chooses to focus on the archetypal African matriarch in "Mama Dot." Like a creation story, Fred D'Aguiar's "Mama Dot" outlines the evolution of the titular Mama Dot by progressing through a seven-day week. Each symbolic day represents possible decades or centuries in historical, linear time. D'Aguiar's talent in "Mama Dot" is revealed through his ability to create a time-transcendent, abstract recreation of the tragedies of slavery and the sense of "otherness" that the descendents of slaves feel long after their ancestors were captured and sold.
Born on a Sunday / in the kingdom of Ashante," (lines 1-2) Mama Dot's beginnings feel regal, as the poet refers to her specific West African tribe. Whereas she belonged in the home of her ancestors, she is thrust into subjugation and a sense of "otherness" when she is "sold on Monday / into slavery," (3-4). Like the millions of children torn from their families during the African slave trade, Mama Dot was torn from her land and ripped from her heritage; she is a stranger on foreign soil. Although Mama Dot was "born free," (6) she is caught and severely punished when she attempts escape. Her foot wasn't the worst of Mama Dot's losses; as Part II of the poem indicates, her entire sense of self and cultural identity was washed away. D'Aguiar changes his tone and diction in Part II to reflect the otherness of modern Africans living on European or North American turf. The poet chooses patois over plain English to represent the singular experience of blacks who live in a predominantly white society. D'Aguiar paints a picture of "Old Mama Dot" squatting, "full o de nat-tral goodness dat / grow in de lann," (27-9). Her rural roots are contrasted with the artifice of the "vat-igan," (35-6). Ironically, given the allusion to Genesis in Part I, "Mama Dot" closes with a stab at the Catholic Church. A sense of otherness is felt through the plight of Mama Dot's captivity and removal from her roots, as she and her progeny are forced to conform to their captor's customs and religions.
Removal from the motherland is indicated with the unique vegetation, herbs, fruits, and spices depicted in "Airy Hall Iconography." Personification of the tamarind, the mango, the guava, and the sour-sop underscores their symbolic value. This might also infer that the white, dominant culture perceives blacks and other outsiders as lower life forms. In any case, items like guinep and paw-paw are "other" on the white man's continent. They are exotic fruits, and when consumed away from their place of origin become estranged from their native soil. Likewise, the descendents of slaves are antipodal, perceived as opposite to everything familiar.
Diction in "Airy Hall Iconography" is as evocative as the guava's "fleshy juice," (8). "The Mango traps the sun by degrees," (3) while "the Stinking-toe might be lopped off a stale foot," (11). Describing these African fruits and spices to the Western reader is an exercise in translation for D'Aguiar. As if he interprets the native tongue of his grandmother, the poet chooses words and phrases that evoke the essential nature of these faraway fruit. Instead of simplistic descriptions of color, size, and shape, D'Aguiar brings these "other" plants to life, thereby bestowing familiarity. The poet bridges gaps between that which is indigenous to the tropics and that which is indigenous to the temperate zones of his audience. While "Airy Hall Iconography" is decidedly less bitter than "Mama Dot," the poet is just as conscious of his unique identity and a sense of otherness within his community. "Airy Hall Iconography" uses the vehicle of fruit and herbs to symbolize cultural alienation.
Tom Leonard, whether he confesses his struggle with self-identity in "100 Differences Between Poetry and Prose," or his disgust with discrimination in "The Evidence," describes otherness. Poetry is other to the written arts as blacks are other to a white society. "100 Differences" does not contain the promised number of differentiations between poetry and prose, but the poem does allude to the fringe nature of poetry. Compared to the familiarity and accessibility of prose, poetry is an exotic art. Poetry is marginalized writing, just as its verses stop "before the end of the margin," (line 1). Pun intended or not, the reference to marginality refers to the "otherness" of poetry. Poetry...
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