by Jerrice J. Baptiste
 |
| Le Nègre Marron |
A long-simmering crisis over Haiti’s ability to govern itself, particularly after a series of natural disasters and an increasingly dire humanitarian emergency, has come to a head in the Caribbean nation, as its de facto president remains stranded in Puerto Rico and its people starve and live in fear of rampant violence. —NBC News, March 15, 2024
I long for sanctuaries of your forests.
Chirping bird—Hispaniolan Trogon.
Enduring name of long ago
La Perle des Antilles
Shimmering light.
I long for your full peasant skirts
flowing with countryside
breeze, where bare
feet imprint
sand.
I long to be eating sizzling Fritaille
griot, fried plantains, and pikliz
of red & yellow hot bonnet
peppers dancing
in my belly.
I long for Krik-Krak from uncles.
Stories told in backyards.
Laughter of familiar
voices greeting
moonlight.
I long to bathe your infants
in tranquil turquoise sea.
Dress your daughters
in white organza
fabric.
I long for your Taino fathers
Chirping bird—Hispaniolan Trogon.
Enduring name of long ago
La Perle des Antilles
Shimmering light.
I long for your full peasant skirts
flowing with countryside
breeze, where bare
feet imprint
sand.
I long to be eating sizzling Fritaille
griot, fried plantains, and pikliz
of red & yellow hot bonnet
peppers dancing
in my belly.
I long for Krik-Krak from uncles.
Stories told in backyards.
Laughter of familiar
voices greeting
moonlight.
I long to bathe your infants
in tranquil turquoise sea.
Dress your daughters
in white organza
fabric.
I long for your Taino fathers
wearing red & indigo flags
during carnival or Rara
dancing to Djembe
rhythm.
I long for your Taino mothers
Poto-Mitan, ivory backbone
of our homes. Selling
clusters of quenepe
at street market.
I long for your white conch shell
blown by bronze lips
breaking chains.
Le Nègre
Marron.
Poto-Mitan, ivory backbone
of our homes. Selling
clusters of quenepe
at street market.
I long for your white conch shell
blown by bronze lips
breaking chains.
Le Nègre
Marron.
Jerrice J. Baptiste is an author of eight books and a poet in residence at the Prattsville Art Center & Residency in NY. She is extensively published in journals and magazines such as Artemis Journal, The Yale Review, Mantis, Eco Theo Review, The Caribbean Writer, and many others. Jerrice has been nominated as Best of The Net by Blue Stem. She has been facilitating poetry workshops for eighteen years.