Ayiti
by April 'AP' Smith
Decatur, Georgia
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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