The poem is composed of words which convey movement:
ëreachedí, ëfellí, ëcomeí, ëtravelledí, ëescapingí, ëarrivedí, ëcameí,
ëgoí, ësearch,í ëleaveí and ëwanderingí. This choice of diction con-
trasts with the static verbs of the speaker from ëThe Boundary
Commissioní and has the effect of communicating the diasporic
journeying of identities from one stage to another: all is flux, nothing
is stationary. The speaker in the poem ëfell in with anotherí who
comes from the ëinteriorí, heartland or centre and journies out to the
periphery or the edge of ëthis determined coastí. The couple in the
poem could be regarded as migrant, ungrounded or unheimlich. Just as
they challenge the limits of the law, they also cross the ëdeterminedí
limits of the land, from ëinteriorí to ëcoastí. Paradoxically, the two are
most at home as deterritorializing nomads travelling on the periphery
of coast and seascape.
ëThe otherí in the poem is female and she asks the speaker to
marry her in order to assume another name or identity, so it is likely
that the poetic speaker would be male. In stanza one, we learn how
ëher fatherí, male identity or the Name of the Father ëwas now
imprisonedí. Identity becomes politicized in the poem as the woman is
herself being chased by the authorities so that she must seek political
asylum with new ë[p]apers for herself and meí. Yet identity is
conveyed less in terms of papers and more in terms of territory as each
travels at the edge of it or as far as the sea. As one stream takes on the
name of the other, the woman exchanges her ëwristwatch and walletí
for his name. In order to be married they must leave the coast and go
back to the metropolitan centre or ëcapitalí. In this way, identity is
assimilated or subordinated into sameness in a moment of capitalist
exchange. Naming is associated with the capital whereas a migrant
loss of the past is associated with lack of identity, the periphery and
the sea. The sexual encounter would also be a process of giving which
can be understood in terms of the material exchange of the wallet and
wristwatch, and the capitalism of the ëtourist/ Quarterí of the ëpinkí
ë[h]otel roomí. In its presentation of identity, the poem does not
present a sublime encounter with alterity but a human, material and
even capitalist relationship of give and take. This moment of taking
may be viewed in terms of imperialist or chauvinist taking over and
naming ëthe otherí.
grace
(Grace)
#1