“Self-Portrait with No Flag” by Safia Elhillo: A Critical Analysis

i pledge allegiance to my

homies      to my mother’s

small & cool palms     to

the gap between my brother’s

two front teeth      & to

my grandmother’s good brown

hands       good strong brown

hands gathering my bare feet

in her lap

i pledge allegiance    to the

group text      i pledge allegiance

to laughter & to all the boys

i have a crush on      i pledge

allegiance to my spearmint plant

to my split ends      to my grandfather’s

brain & gray left eye

i come from two failed countries

& i give them back      i pledge

allegiance to no land    no border

cut by force to draw blood    i pledge

allegiance to no government    no

collection of white men carving up

the map with their pens

i choose the table at the waffle house

with all my loved ones crowded

into the booth     i choose the shining

dark of our faces through a thin sheet

of smoke     glowing dark of our faces

slick under layers of sweat     i choose

the world we make with our living

refusing to be unmade by what surrounds

us      i choose us gathered at the lakeside

the light glinting off the water & our

laughing teeth     & along the living

dark of our hair    & this is my only country

Themes: “Self-Portrait with No Flag” by Safia Elhillo

🟦 Theme 1: Reimagining Allegiance Through Intimacy

“Self-Portrait with No Flag” by Safia Elhillo redefines the concept of allegiance by shifting it away from the traditional expectation of national loyalty and toward a deeply intimate, personal network of relationships that form the speaker’s emotional homeland. Through a sequence of lovingly specific images—such as “my mother’s / small & cool palms,” “the gap between my brother’s / two front teeth,” and “my grandmother’s good brown / hands”—Elhillo constructs an alternative geography of belonging that resists state authority while celebrating human connection. This reimagined allegiance functions as a quiet but powerful critique of nationalist discourse, particularly when the speaker insists on pledging “to the group text” or “to laughter,” thereby elevating mundane acts of community into sacred oaths. The poem’s thematic strength lies in its argument that real loyalty emerges from care, memory, and shared lived experience rather than flags, borders, or formal political structures.

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🟩Theme 2: Rejecting Borders and Colonial Nationhood

“Self-Portrait with No Flag” by Safia Elhillo foregrounds a profound rejection of imposed borders and the violence that underlies modern nation-states, particularly those drawn through militarized or colonial processes. When the speaker declares that she comes “from two failed countries / & i give them back,” she articulates a refusal to inherit political wounds that she did not create, thereby challenging the notion that citizenship should automatically dictate identity. Elhillo intensifies this critique by renouncing “any land” and “any border / cut by force to draw blood,” linking nationhood directly to historical trauma and displacement. The phrase “white men carving up / the map with their pens” evokes the legacy of colonial cartography, suggesting that states themselves are artificial constructs maintained through oppression. The poem’s central theme therefore rests upon the idea that rejecting these borders is an act of self-preservation, allowing the speaker to reclaim agency through personal geography rather than political boundaries.

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🟥 Theme 3: Diaspora, Displacement, and Fragmented Identity

“Self-Portrait with No Flag” by Safia Elhillo captures the emotional complexity of diasporic identity, presenting the speaker as someone shaped by multiple historical ruptures and cultural inheritances that do not easily align with neat national categories. Her assertion that she belongs to “two failed countries” encapsulates a sense of inherited displacement—an existential weight that diasporic individuals often carry as they navigate identities formed across fractured geographies. This sense of fragmentation is countered by the speaker’s active choice to disengage from official national markers and instead reconstruct her identity through everyday artifacts of memory: her grandfather’s “brain & gray left eye,” her “spearmint plant,” or the “boys / i have a crush on.” By threading together these intimate registers, the poem suggests that diaspora is not merely a condition of loss but also a fertile space for creating hybrid, self-defined belonging. Elhillo’s theme thus revolves around transforming displacement into self-authored identity.

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🟨 Theme 4: Creating Community as an Act of Resistance

“Self-Portrait with No Flag” by Safia Elhillo presents community-building as an active form of resistance against systems that aim to divide, marginalize, or politically erase individuals. The poem’s concluding vision—of loved ones “crowded / into the booth” at a Waffle House or “gathered at the lakeside” where “the light glint[s] off the water & our / laughing teeth”—illustrates the speaker’s deliberate creation of a shared world that thrives despite the fractures surrounding it. In claiming that “this is my only country,” she asserts that communal joy, mutual care, and collective embodiment constitute a sovereign space more authentic than any state-defined nation. The phrase “refusing to be unmade by what surrounds / us” signals a conscious defiance against dehumanizing forces that seek to fragment identities. Thus, community becomes not only a source of comfort but a radical political stance—an insistence that love and belonging can flourish beyond institutional borders or nationalist expectations.

1. 🌍 How does “Self-Portrait with No Flag” by Safia Elhillo challenge traditional notions of nationalism?

In “Self-Portrait with No Flag” by Safia Elhillo, the poet challenges conventional nationalism by shifting loyalty from the state to intimate, everyday relationships, thereby redefining allegiance as a deeply personal rather than political act. Instead of venerating the abstract idea of a nation-state, Elhillo pledges allegiance to her “homies,” her mother’s “small & cool palms,” and her grandmother’s “good brown hands,” grounding belonging within a network of affection, memory, and embodied connection. Her explicit refusal to pledge loyalty to “any land,” “any border cut by force,” or “any collection of white men carving up the map” exposes the violence, arbitrariness, and colonial inheritance of modern nationhood. By positioning chosen community above state-defined identity, she destabilizes the notion that borders and governments should dictate one’s sense of self. Ultimately, the poem critiques nationalism’s emptiness and asserts that genuine belonging emerges from living, loving, and surviving alongside one’s people.

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2. ✊ In what ways does the poem articulate resistance against colonial and postcolonial identity formation?

In “Self-Portrait with No Flag” by Safia Elhillo, resistance manifests through the deliberate rejection of inherited identities shaped by colonial map-making and postcolonial instability. When she writes that she comes from “two failed countries,” Elhillo gestures toward the fractured political realities produced by colonial borders that ignored cultural and historical coherence. Her refusal to pledge allegiance to any government, especially those born from “white men carving up the map,” becomes an act of decolonial defiance that challenges the legitimacy of imposed national identities. The poem resists narratives that demand uncritical loyalty to unstable states by centering the speaker’s agency to define who or what deserves her allegiance. By choosing personal relationships, intergenerational memory, and communal joy over state affiliation, Elhillo constructs a selfhood grounded in lived experience rather than geopolitical designation. Her resistance is therefore both emotional and political, reclaiming identity from colonial violence and postcolonial disillusionment.

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3. 💛 How does Elhillo use intimate, domestic imagery to redefine concepts of home and belonging?

In “Self-Portrait with No Flag” by Safia Elhillo, intimate domestic imagery becomes the foundation on which the poet rebuilds the meaning of home and belonging. Instead of locating home in a physical country, she situates it in the small, tender details of family and community—her mother’s “cool palms,” her brother’s gap-toothed smile, and her grandmother’s “good strong brown hands.” These details create an affective geography where belonging is rooted in sensory connection rather than territory. The domestic scenes—crowded booths at the Waffle House, shared laughter, spearmint plants, split ends—construct a homeland made of moments rather than institutions. By elevating these everyday images, Elhillo transforms domestic space into a sanctuary of identity that resists the violence and instability associated with national borders. Home becomes a living, relational space defined through collective memory, intimacy, and chosen companionship, rather than imposed citizenship.

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4. ✨ What vision of community does the poem ultimately affirm through its closing declaration, “this is my only country”?

In “Self-Portrait with No Flag” by Safia Elhillo, the final declaration—“this is my only country”—reveals a vision of community built on mutual care, shared resilience, and chosen belonging. The poem has already rejected the idea that nations created through colonial force and political violence can meaningfully define identity. Instead, the “country” she claims is composed of loved ones gathered in smoky booths, at lakesides, and in the intimacy of everyday life. This vision emphasizes that community is not inherited through citizenship but forged through joy, laughter, survival, and collective embodiment. Her chosen “country” becomes a sanctuary shaped by emotional commitment rather than legal allegiance. Through this closing affirmation, Elhillo proposes a radical reimagining of belonging—one in which identity thrives not through loyalty to borders but through the continual act of choosing one another. The poem thus celebrates community as a living, dynamic homeland created through presence and love.