“Because It Never Dies”: Archipelagic Time in <i>from unincorporated territory [</i> <i>lukao</i> <i>]</i>

Abstract Craig Santos Perez’s from unincorporated territory [lukao], the fourth volume in his poetry series titled from unincorporated territory, tells overlapping narratives of Guåhan’s (Guam’s) colonial and environmental histories, mixed with his speaker’s memories and family history. However, as he brings these interrelated narratives together, he pulls each narrative out of linear time and plugs it into what this article calls archipelagic time: a mix of synchronic and “spiral” time that allows him to make visible the Indigenous histories and narratives and environmental degradation that would not otherwise be visible in linear time. Indeed, environmental activism often runs counter to decolonial movements, even as their goals are linked. The author argues that this is in part a problem of temporality, as the movements imagine different temporalities and futurities. from unincorporated territory [lukao] steps into this gap: it establishes a temporal orientation that both allows for narratives that support Indigenous sovereignty and attempts to comprehend environmental change and vulnerability in the Pacific. This article investigates [lukao] to show how it mobilizes archipelagic time to simultaneously make room for representations that support Indigenous sovereignty and the environmental effects of colonialism on Guåhan and Hawai’i.