“Infinity Unfolds at the Horizon”: Poetry of the CHamoru diaspora

CHamoru people, the Indigenous peoples of the Mariana Islands, have long been voyagers. In contemporary times, their voyages across the United States and beyond have become a source of discussion by scholars, artists, and activists. This essay illustrates how poetry of the CHamoru diaspora illuminates our interconnectedness to one another across geographical distance: relationality, in other words, not remoteness. I focus on the works of two diasporic CHamoru writers, Lehua Taitano and Clarissa Mendiola, who utilize similar imagery rooted in CHamoru voyaging epistemologies. Instead of foregrounding the geographical barriers between Guam and the continental United States, Mendiola’s and Taitano’s imagery enacts a decolonial poetics that illustrates the interconnectedness of CHamoru communities in the Pacific and beyond.