Down from the mountains men come, each with a rooster tucked under the arm, fighting cocks, some small and feisty, some huge enough to knock out with one blow. Their women follow, huge breasted many […]
the art and literary blog of M.J. Fievre
Tag: Haiti
France-Luce Benson: Risen from the Dough
WGA Reg. # 1496852 In Risen From the Dough, two Haitian-American women in a bakery kitchen prepare for the impending arrival of the health inspector while they grapple with grief, identity, and the complicated realities […]
Patricia Biela: Mamie’s Hands
Grand-mère, je vois tes mains. Your hands coddle infants nourish your children. Mamie, je vois tes mains. Your hands interlock God. Rosary beads hang. Grand-mère, je vois tes mains. Your hands plant mango and bananane. […]
Tammy L. Tillotson: The Picture of Haiti
In the background, a girl wears a sunny yellow t-shirt with a sailboat inside a heart. I want to ask if she got the shirt at one of Virginia’s Annual Lake Festivals. Does she remember— […]
Pascale Doxy: Art as Therapy
Pascale Doxy is a native of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Her passion for drawing started when she was a toddler. She was introduced to water color at the age of twelve. At seventeen, dissatisfied with the light […]
Tragedians, by Katia D. Ulysse
Poverty is like an engagement ring: expensive but obligatory. Necessary. The world would be bleak without it. Poverty gives birth to thriving institutions that are immune to failure. Poverty is a lottery with the largest […]
Jeremy Paden: On this Fault, Let Us Write a Poem
Here is a stand, let us sit for a night or two or three in silence before we speak. I wish it were a copse of blue-flowering lignum, shedding petals that float like butterflies, or […]
Haiti, Phoebe, and the Oloffson: At the Crossroad of Race and Nationality and Class: An Interview
Phoebe Rusch: Thank you for featuring me, MJ. It’s an honor. MJ Fievre: You’re welcome, Phoebe. I’m happy to help promote your fundraising campaign. Do you want to say a little about that? Phoebe: Yes! […]
Adieu, February! (A recap)
Adieu, February! Together, we paid A Tribute to Maya Angelou and Ruby Dee, “not because they are gone but because their work and words will live on forever.” (Suze Guillaume) Fans of both flash fiction […]
An Angel on the Other Side of the Border, by Marylin Laurent
When we met in Caribbean Literature 101, he was the first to smile at me. “Hola, mama!” he said, his eyes searching my face. Then he introduced himself—Angel. As he waved a hand, I replied as […]
Katia D. Ulysse reads “Take a Picture”
Listen to Katia D. Ulysse read her story “Take a Picture.” Katia D. Ulysse was born in Haiti, and moved to the United States as a teen. Her writings have been published in numerous literary journals, including […]
Saving April
April shows me her cuts. Small razor cuts spread on her arm. She’s managed to shape some of them like stick houses—triangles atop squares. Others are words—fuck them. Several of the wounds are still fresh. […]
The Wee Hours, by Diane Allerdyce
They say that in 1803 all Haitian roosters lost their ability to tell time—or at least to admit they knew how—when Toussaint L’Ouverture was betrayed at the hands of one of his own. It was […]
The World Crashes All the Time, by Kent Annan
Three weeks after the earthquake, Enel and I are both amazed he’s alive as we step through the sharp smell of decaying bodies coming up from under the rubble of his university. [He had been […]