Sunday, March 27, 2011

Poems of Solidarity for Haiti

Published in Motion Magazine by writer April S.

Ayiti

by April 'AP' Smith
Decatur, Georgia

You… 
You be Caribbean;
You be French, Indian, and West African: Creole; 
You be rich;
You be gold;
You be indigo, coffee bean, and sugar cane; you be sweet, 
Beautiful, 
Exploited: nigger, slave, coon, chattel;
(But) you be King and Queen, the dream 
Before Martin through your own coup d’états; 
You be rebellious, revolution, Napoleon defeating, 
Gifted; you be Toussaint, 
Courageous, Jean-Jacque; 
You be 1804: Freedom, Saint Domingue reversed: 
You be Ayiti, rooted like Arawak; 
You be rock; 
You be mountain;
You be strong; 
You be back-bone against 32 counts of civil unrest,
Resilient in danger zones;
You be blessed;
You be death  by the hand of US Marines,
30,000 in the “knapsacks” of the Tonton Macoute regimes;
You be protest; uproar and war;
You be Yele, YELL-ING so loud
You be exiled: you be Jean-Bertrand Aristide;
You be priest against French inequalities,
Operation Uphold Democracy, 
Unwanted,
Sanctioned, cut-off, and sucked dry;
You be bankrupt with no allies,
Butt-naked, bare: in the nude for charcoal and fuel;
You be mudslides, tropical storms, rubble & debris;
You be natural,
Disaster times fifteen;
You be Flora, Gordon, George, and Jeanne; You be hurricanes, 
Tsunamis, & earthquakes; you be after shakes,
Cracked, fractured, splintered, buried, battered & bruised,
But you…, 
You never break;
You be remarkable,
Amazing, gritty, and brave;
You be diamond in the rough,
tough, unrelenting,
Courage made of blood, sweat, and tears;
You be soul and blues, smooth and cool, 
made of pearl: La Perle des Antilles,
Precious gem,
Ancient and young:
206 years and still number 1;
You be independent 
black nation,
Wise & steadfast; 
You  be  Ayiti, 
rooted like Arawak; 
You be rock; 
You be mountain;
You be strong;
You be strong;
You be strong;
You be strong;
You be strong,
back-bone against 32 counts of civil unrest,
Resilient in danger zones;
You be blessed;
You
Be 
Survival!

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