#chamorro

this is probably the first name reveal i've made out of all the islanders for this blog, and the opportunity was there since guam's human name, "inina", means a glimmer/intermittent light. "glimmer of guahan" my ass girl you became a whole fucking flashlight atp LMFAOOO

National Poetry Month: Craig Santos Perez

Craig Santos Perez (b. 1980) is a Chamorro writer; born in Guam, his family moved to California when he was fifteen. The poems highlighted here are from his 2017 collection from Unincorporated Territory [lukao] published in Oakland by Omnidawn. This is the fourth title in his continuing unincorporated territory series and continues Santos Perez's exploration of Chamorro language, culture, diaspora, as well as the legacy of the U.S. Military bases on Guam. In 2023, the fifth book in the series, [åmot], won the National Book Award for Poetry.

[lukao] – procession – weaves poems centering his wife and the birth of their daughter with, “other processions, including extinction, military buildups, environmental degradation, climate change, violence, and death.” Santos Perez revisits motifs from the first three volumes of the series – including the legends of juan malo, and an endless, ecstatic consideration of SPAM:

My food philosophy / is simple: I eat therefore I SPAM. The name itself stands for: / Specially Processed Army Meal, Sacred Pork And Medicine, / Super Pink Artificial Meat, Snake Pigeon And Mongoose, or / Some Pigs Are Missing.

Santos Perez layers humor, lyricism, personal narrative, social-media-speak, history, myth, Chomorro language, maps, and rhythm to illuminate a complex and rich heritage of Guam, while providing a frank assessment of colonization and militarization.  

Watch Santos Perez perform SPAM's Carbon Footprint at a festival in 2016.

See other National Poetry Month posts!

--Amanda, Special Collections Graduate Intern

Hima carvings of Alahas necklaces

During the 1600s, colonial technologies began to be integrated into Chamorro craft. Objects originally made from shell or stone, for instance, started being made with metal, including the kamyu, a tool with carved teeth used to grate coconut.

Colonizers also restricted the types of jewelry and body adornments worn by the Indigenous population. Spondylus beads, which were precious to Chamorro women prior to colonization, for instance, became less prevalent.

By the late 1700s and early 1800s, the only unprohibited form of expression, religious devotion, and body adornment was the crucifix.

Tried a cortado for the first time 💛

Mental rambles: the urge I have to get back i to mandarin by working on translations for my own fun and games!!! But also? I wanna learn CHamorro, my people's native language that's been having an uptick with people tryna revive it from being a dead language.