This book was fascinating giving an in-depth background on the author, his homeland and adopted homeland and environment surrounding the poem. It was such an interesting read into a poet! So often books and histories on poets forces on white poets so this was a nice change!

ean Métellus was born in Haiti and initially educated in Haiti. He left his home country to continue his education and escape the Duvalier regime in 1959. In Paris, he studied linguistics and neurology. Metellus would not return to his homeland, but instead, he began to write poetry about Haiti. His attachment to Haiti is complex since he wrote about it from memory, perhaps a bit idealized, and wrote in French, not in Creole. Haun Saussy translation of the French to English captures the spirit of the poetry while keeping the form intact.

Metellus' masterpiece "When the Pipirite Sings" opens the collection. There is an immediate feeling of the countries people and history. The slave labor and broken promises of freedom and prosperity run through the poem as well as the forced language and religion on a captive people.

When the pipirite sings the Haitian peasant has already crossed the day’s
threshold and forms in the air, one step behind the sun, the outline of a
crucified man embracing life
...
The Haitian peasant knows how to get up before dawn and bury a wish, a
dream

Poverty and slash and burn subsistence agriculture is represented.

Before daybreak this mother was contemplating
Her womb more fertile than the earth
~ When the Pipirite Sings

Glimmers of hope grow in other poems.

Haiti is glowing like a cat
Her breath and her rapture spread abroad
Her men and hillsides are already singing
Cinnamon and spices play
The seasons will cover our fields with flowers
~The Sun's Reply

Metellus captures the spirit of his homeland and its roots. Themes of slavery and African heritage, poverty, simple lives, and hope for Haiti run deep in all the poems.

April 15, 2019

This is a book that is so much more than just a poetry book. It offers so much more.
Thank you to both NetGalley and Northwestern University Press for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest unbiased review

When The Piperite Sings by Jean Metellus as translated by Haun Saussy is a magnificent adventure through poetic pieces that introduce the reader to various aspects of Haitian Culture. Thematically addressing the search for identity in an ever changing world and its effects on the culture as well as the individual. These pieces demonstrate Metellus strong original voice and vivid imagery entice the reader into each piece.

"Great black man remember / Remember that it was words, sounds and colors / That condemned you, burned you, assassinated you / Do you remember your victory / Do you rememeber the victory of calindas and of Negritude / Of real Negritude on Haiti's soil [...] Forget none of your past / Neither Negrism nor Negritude / If the world despises you don't be scandalized / And know that this harsh exclusion will perserve the race of your children"

Not only is the theme and pride of "When the Pipirite Sings" the outward forms of "local colour", the search for identity, the tireless memory, but also the authenticity of Métellus' poetry is palpable, his imagery vigorous and unique.

"And memory dressed in stars still signs with aflourish across the wound of oblivion / Intrepid she rushes to all fronts, reviving despair"