The poem’s title emphasizes two key aspects of the poem: postcolonialism and love. The term postcolonial refers to the effects and legacy of colonization and imperialization on the lands and peoples who were colonized. The term is also used to describe projects that seek to reclaim and rethink history to highlight the colonized peoples’ culture and agency. The poem’s speaker describes her resilience in the face of the ongoing trauma and violence she experiences as an Indigenous woman. Yet this idea is contrasted with love. Her queer relationship with another woman transforms these wounds into something beautiful.

The poem describes the literal and metaphorical wars the speaker and her people have experienced and are still experiencing. The poem begins with the speaker describing the healing principles of bloodstones. These stones “can cure a snakebite, / can stop the bleeding” (Line 1). This snake could be the animal, but it could also symbolize the white colonizers that duplicitously betrayed Indigenous people. The bloodstone’s healing power also comes from its connection to her culture that she has “been taught” (Line 1) about. She emphasizes that the effects are ongoing, that even though “most people forgot this / when the

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