WITH THE escalating violence in Haiti and the arrival of several refugees fleeing the country, Haiti has been making its way into the news several times this year. The news of the current coup almost threatens to blot out the celebration of the bicentennial of the Haitian Revolution.
The Poetry Society of Jamaica turned their attentions to the Haitian Revolution on Tuesday when they met for their monthly fellowship at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts, Arthur Wint Drive, St. Andrew. Rather than a guest poet, several members of the society performed a collection of fictional, poetic and historic perspectives on Haiti in the post-revolution period.
'BOAT PEOPLE PICKNEY'
Tomlin Ellis and Phillipa Sauterell gave the introduction to the ensemble performance which would follow, couching Haiti in its almost paradoxical position as the poorest black nation and the first to free itself from the shackles of slavery.
The mournful sounds of Tafawee Buchsaecab on saxophone, punctuated by drumming from M'bala and Calvin Mitchell brought the ensemble from varying areas of the ampitheatre.
The opening poem Boat People brought the current situation in Haiti, as many citizens flee, into sharp focus declaring that we are all boat people pickney, whether our ancestors were among the many who came in chains, or the few who came with a view.
The poem was almost an reverb of The Gleaner front page for that day which declared 'Haitians Pour in'. But before you mentally flee in disgust/From this image of Haitian refugees/Just/Remem-ber/Pot no fi cuss kekkle. Rawle Gibbon's A Child is to be Raised, read by the ensemble, continued the ghastly spectre of death and destruction.
However, the group's performance detracted greatly from the poem's effectiveness as it was hard to hear what was said.
Dennis Scott's Guard Ring, dramatically delivered by Nabby Natural, changed the tone of the performance to a more reflective, though no less intense, mood. Dressed in black with a hint of red, Natural made a black and red cross then a ritual circle in which he performed. Guard Ring presents the marriage between obeah and Christianity as the persona asks for protection from his numerous rings and Christ.
THE REVOLUTIONARY
POWER OF THE VOICE
Using both his voice and flute, M'bala invoked the revolutionary power of the voice, as a wind of change with The Wind, which had been renamed Le Vent for the occasion. This wind of change has been blowing for more/Than 200 years/And blowing still/Thru prison bars/the fires/The ragged sails of ragged refugees/Le vent/Raging from the lungs of a people who will not be chained again.
The sound of the bamboo flute created a soft bed upon which Sheena Johnson laid the words of Edwidge Dandicat's Breath, Eyes and Memory. The presentation soon veered away from poetry, bringing in more dramatic and historic perspectives. An Excerpt of Edourd Glissant's Monsieur Touissant, C.L.R. James' writings on the importance of the Haitian Revolution and Toussaint L'Overture as depicted in The Black Jacobins and the declaration of independence by Jean Jacques Dessalines all formed a part of this segment.
The presentation was brought to an end with Haiti 200 plus 1, read by the ensemble. The poem questioned And so/ After/The bicentennial/Is Over/Will it be as usual?. It continued:
Will poets' pen
(Having overwritten)
Run out of dark Dessalines ink?
Will Toussaint, Boukman
Christophe slink
Back into mildewed Black Jacobins
On the dusty bookshelf
Of history?
It is a question only history will answer.
