Pruned Tree | Arbol podado
A Poem by Fina Garcia Marruz | Translated by Kathleen Weaver. (English | Spanish)
Continue reading →Category Archives: Literature
The Poetry of Tomas Transtroemer
Peter Vinthagen Simpson and staff, The Local. Swedish poet Tomas Tranströmer, who was on Thursday named the 2011 Nobel Literature Prize laureate, has published a relatively small body of work, often addressing themes of death, history and nature. Here is an English translation of a short poem entitled “National Insecurity,” followed by a brief bibliography.
Continue reading →Choucoune Story and Song, With English Translation of Lyrics By Dady Chery
First English translation of complete lyrics by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery | Original Creole lyrics written by Oswald Durand, courtesy of Gage Averill | Music by Michel Mauleart Monton | Sung by Martha Jean-Claude | History by Louis J. Auguste, M.D., Pikliz. Osward Durand’s Choucoune was considered to be the best poem in kreyol from the moment it appeared in print. About 10 years later, it was put to music by Michel Mauleart Monton. (Kreyol | English)
Continue reading →A Sea Change
A Poem by Derek Walcott. Derek Walcott is a writer and painter from St. Lucia. He was born in 1930. He received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1992. This poem is from his latest volume of poetry, titled White Egrets (2010).
Continue reading →Tezen Nan Dlo
The classic Haitian tale, told by Dady Chery. KRICK? A long time ago, in a thatched house snuggled in a valley between the flamboyant-covered hills of Haiti, there lived a girl whose greatest ambition was to bring home the cleanest water in all the world.
Continue reading →The Emperor’s New Clothes
By Hans Christian Andersen. Many years ago there lived an Emperor who was so terribly fond of beautiful new clothes that he spent all his money on dressing elegantly. He didn’t care about his soldiers, didn’t care about the theater or driving in the woods; all he cared about was showing off his new clothes.
Continue reading →The Day of the Cicadas
Until She Spoke
By Frederick Douglas, Haiti Chery. A poem that celebrates the Haitian victory against slavery.
Continue reading →Island Sounds
A Valentine for My Restavek Mothers and the Stolen Children of Haiti
By Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. One cannot talk about orphaned Haitian children without confronting two highly controversial and interwoven subjects: Vodou and restavek. Both are part of the very fabric of the Haitian family, which is currently under vicious attack.
Continue reading →Tout Moun Se Moun: The Haitian Revolution as a Permanent State of Mind
By Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. It is Haitian Independence Day, and I am in a mood to celebrate year two-hundred and six. The stereo blasts a wild, up-tempo, tune. Haitian drums burn! As I dance, I explain to my befuddled husband that this exhuberant song is about a woman who survived a storm. She is stuck up a tree and singing that her day to die has not yet come.
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