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!