Land

Land I am theone shore in the memory of theAntilles And thedelectable cheekwhich radiates and welcomes fragrance I am thegenerous lips of childhood Haiti, Quisqueya, Bohio, Land bothwelcoming and cool Iwanted to clamp you living in my arms, Build you amonument of organs and flutes, People you with incense and celebrations, Revive your off seasons, Adorn your houses' trim Eldest daughter of theAntilles, You've seen your children die You've drunk theblood ofhurricanes As paper drinks the ink from my pen As the land drinks its mother's sweat As the trespasserdrinks yourmilk's essence As firedrinks a season's gold As a sharp-edged blade drinks a life's story Do you know thenames of the locusts thathave stripped your orchards? And the source of the scum that floats like the toad's drool Across yourwithered body slashed fromhead to toe No longer can I see thosepiercing eyes ofyourswhich used to trap fragrance,happiness And subdue the snake Yet stilldo you eat cinnamon whole, calyx, seedpod and all Drink raw eggswith gusto Eat whole cloves of garlic For thegreat pleasure ofyour entrails and theprotection ofyour beauty And what do you do with wormwood which casts out evil spirits' spells (Voyance,1985) Translationsfrom the French ByHaun Saussy Bom in Jacmel, Haiti, in 1937, Jean Metellus took doctorates inneurology and linguistics inParis, where he has taught and practiced medicine over a full career. His writing firstcame to the notice of theFrench public with thestunninglong poemAu Pipirite chantant(Whenthepipirite sings), publishedinLesLettres nouvellesin1973and later as thetitle poemof hisfirst collectionin1978. He has published novels, plays, historical essays, and several collections of verse. His novel The Vortex Family has appeared in English (tr.Michael Richardson, 1995). His most recent collection, Braises de la memoire, was published in March 2009 and contains one of the poems in this selection. Haun Saussy isBirdWhite Housum Professor of Comparative Literature and East Asian Languages & Literatures at Yale University. Most recently, he coedited a critical edition of Ernest Fenollosa's Chinese Written Character as a Medium for Poetry (Fordham, 2008). July-August 2009 i39

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