{"id":1394,"date":"2025-09-26T14:37:13","date_gmt":"2025-09-26T18:37:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/?p=1394"},"modified":"2025-09-26T14:37:13","modified_gmt":"2025-09-26T18:37:13","slug":"4-cheri-moraga-la-dazante","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/2025\/09\/26\/4-cheri-moraga-la-dazante\/","title":{"rendered":"#4 – Cheri Moraga, La Dazante"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the fourth poem of the La Dazante section of Cheri Moraga\u2019s works, the poem touches on the idea of concealing an identity and relationship, but I would like to focus on the second half of it. It\u2019s in some ways rather blatant, at least in the world of poems. There is something intimate in all of this, the idea of being held in one’s arms, of being so close, yet still feel like dying; which highlights the personal intimacy and secrecy, followed later by \u201dand I enter you as deep and as hard as we want \/ because you were there too dying\u201d (Moraga, 21, lines 7-8). It\u2019s gentle, loving, without any regard for the society, or nation, around them, while acknowledging the pain of their reality. When they are not in a safe place, hidden away in a motel far from anyone they know, there is no room or possibility for their love due to its queerness. <\/span><\/p>\n

In terms of the actual structure itself, the end of the poem notably runs counter to what comes before it. \u201cWe want to gather all the touch we can \/\/ before we go \/\/ back. (Moraga, lines 13-15)\u201d The isolation of this poem is specific. When the speaker is with their lover, the poem is spaced differently, closer together and interwoven. Upon the mention of leaving, returning to a world that is not warm and welcoming to their love and relationship, even the words themselves begin to isolate.<\/span><\/p>\n

The poem itself is about the inability to be queer in public, but embrace it in private. The idea that they must hide themselves before returning to their normal life, despite the clear tenderness and love that they hold for their lover. In a moment where it is just them, they are free to love and lust for each other, however, the moment they return to their nation, they must once again return to hiding.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the fourth poem of the La Dazante section of Cheri Moraga\u2019s works, the poem touches on the idea of concealing an identity and relationship, but I would like to focus on the second half of it. It\u2019s in some ways rather blatant, at least in the world of poems. There is something intimate in … Continue reading #4 – Cheri Moraga, La Dazante<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5693,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[344663],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fall-2025"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5693"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1394"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1394\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1395,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1394\/revisions\/1395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}