From the Desire Field

“From the Desire Field” is a poem by Mojave poet, linguist, activist, and creative writing professor Natalie Diaz, who is an enrolled member of the Gila River Indian Tribe. This community is an Indian reservation in the US state of Arizona, adjacent to the south side of Phoenix. The poem was published in Poem-a-Day on June 5, 2017, by the Academy of American Poets. It was reprinted in Diaz’s second poetry collection, Postcolonial Love Poem (2020), which won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 2021. The poem explores ideas about insomnia, anxiety, desire, sexual love, peace of mind, and quietness. Written in Diaz’s characteristic rich, densely packed, and innovative language and unusual form, the poem affirms queer identity, Diaz’s Hispanic (Mexican) heritage, and Native American ceremonial practices. These themes and their various ramifications lie at the heart of much of Diaz’s poetry.

Poet Biography

Natalie Diaz was born on September 4, 1978, in the Fort Mojave Indian Village in Needles, California. In a podcast interview with David Naimon, Diaz described herself as Indigenous and Latina or Mexican, as her father was Mexican and her mother Indigenous. She is a member of the Gila River Indian Tribe, and she also identifies as a queer woman.