Introduction

Suheir Hammad is one of the many poets whose focus is on race, class-related experiences as well as gender. She communicates her words and voice through poems that have been carefully chosen to act as the voice to the voiceless. In other words, she employs the art of resistance in her writing to show that she cannot be silenced. The resistance technique is evident in her poems such as Exotic, children of stone, blood stitched time and others. Women are everyday abused as gender issue appreciates every day. They still languish in slavery, and their cries get louder and louder every day. In this article, my main focus is on the exotic poem in Born Palestinian, Born Black to get the message behind the poet’s efforts to consciously and carefully deconstruct misconceptions and stereotyping. Furthermore, the technique of writing such as the use of stylistic devices will be assessed to determine the delivery of the message and whether the same message reached the subconscious level of the audience.

Exotic is a poem that is developed to create conscious negation of transforming into a beautiful model that can accept passivity of consciousness as evident through the use of terms like ‘colourful,’ ‘delicate’ and even ‘fragile’ which shows the formality of beauty. The poet achieves a nonconformist stance by denying the concept of physical charm where women are judged based on their appearance. In other words, the primary message of this poem is that beauty goes beyond what the body and its formal aspects can show. However, the poet says that if a person mostly men cannot see beyond a woman’s body, then all this can be termed as “funky fornication.” It so since the gaze being talked about the poem seemed to focus a lot on the passivity of the woman’s body. The woman’s self is charming, but that does not mean she only is to be judged form the physical charms. There is much more in the woman beside her physical appearance.

In communicating the message, the poet employs the use of personification. Stanza 1 line 4, it says, “in a land foreign to the stretch of her wings.” The lady is personified to have wings where in  real sense no human being has wings. However, the wings, in this case, implies the vigor or rather the energy the lady has through her inner beauty. She knows that by submitting to the demands of those looking at her outward appearance will mean being initiated to slavery. She will have no freedom of her own as she will forever have to be submissive to this individual she is talking about. The woman denies falling for the look as she gains a full understanding on the fact that the praise is only for her beauty, a mere ‘nasty necrophilia’ which is the dead self (Stanza 4, line 4). The denial to play a part in the looker’s scheme helps the woman to deny being the prototypes. The poet further gives an example of the prototypes;  ‘coffee maker,’ ‘banana picker,’ ‘pompom girl,’ ‘geisha girl’ and even ‘ harem girl’ (Stanza 5, lines 2-4).

Repetition is also evident in the poem. The first line of stanzas 1, 2 and 4 begin with, “don’t wanna be your exotic.”This creates a sing-song rhythm as well informing the audience that her decision of not being exotic is not irreversible and thus expects the audience to keep in mind this decision as they read the poem downwards. The speaker does not want to be lured into becoming any of the prototypes that are always deprived off their freedom as well as strength. An interesting fact to note is that the gaze the woman receives is what makes her feel like a mere commodity to be used and humiliated. This is also evident in the poem “our mothers and their lives of suffer,” where women are subjected to struggles just to make ends meet in their lives and those they love. Women is the key word in all these poems.In other words, women are considered vessels that satisfy men and have limited potential, thus the reason as to why the issue of gender continues to grow. However, by using this repetition technique, the poet emphasizes the need to stick to one’s decision even when subjected to different circumstances.

The full poem seems ironic given the fact that the speaker refuses to be enticed with a charming look. The look makes her feel used and cheap as the likes of the ” private dancer” prototype. She argues to show that her beauty goes beyond her physical appearance. In stanza 3, line 6-9, the speaker says “the beat of my lashes against each other, ain’t some dark desert beat, it’s just a blink, get over it.” In other words, the speaker does not want the looker to behave crazy just because of something as a simple as her blinking of the eyes, she knows all women can blink and so nothing can make her fall for the gaze. This is ironic in the sense that most women like being looked at and told sweet words by men counterparts. It is believed that such a gaze like the one being talked about by the speaker is what makes women feel beautiful and loved. For instance, if the gaze could have been for another woman and not the speaker, then it could have been an assurance that she could have fallen for the looker.

How the stylistic devices have helped in the delivery of the message.

The use of personification, repetition, and irony have been significantly used in showing how women are deceived. The poet uses these stylistic devices to show the audience that women are not commodities and looking through her vision, it is further evident that the speaker denies being erotic or exotic. Her vision is not confined in any given metaphorical borders but everywhere. This is evident in stanza 2, lines 2-3, “ women everywhere are just like me, some taller darker nicer than me.”

Conclusion

The poet is visible to have exemplified her holistic idea of how the beauty of a woman goes beyond a passive self. The poet’s denial to become exotic is a reconstruction of the modernized women who have the intelligence of acting beyond their beauty. Just like the looker whose intentions are generated from what he can outwardly see, there is a lot in women that are more charming than their physical appearance. In most cases, what people look at with their physical eyes is what leads to de-humanization, stereotyping and forceful injustices women are subjected to. Exotic reveals the need for women to resist and articulate for respect as well as equality.

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