Laraque, Paul and Jack Hirschman. (eds.): Open Gate: An Anthology of Haitian Creole Poetry.

Hall, Michael R.

Laraque, Paul and Jack Hirschman. (eds.) Open Gate: An Anthology of Haitian Creole Poetry. Willimantic, CT: Curbstone Press, 2001.

Kreyol, often referred to as "Creole" in English, is the most widely spoken language in Haiti and represents one of the most important elements of Haitian culture. It is the only language of over 90 percent of Haiti's people. Throughout history, most of Haiti's French-speaking elites have considered Kreyol an inferior language or a bastardized version of French. In 1987, however, one year after the overthrow of dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier, the new Haitian Constitution made Kreyol one of Haiti's two official languages. Proclaiming Kreyol an official language was the culmination of a dream first envisioned in the 1950s by Haitian writer Felix Morisseau-Leroy (1922-1998). During the 1960s, a group of Haitian writers, including Paul Laraque (19202007), emulated Morisseau-Leroy and began writing poetry in Kreyol. Laraque believed that writing in Kreyol could bridge the gap between Haiti's masses and progressive intellectuals. Since Kreyol is rarely spoken as a second language by non-Haitians, most readers in the English-speaking world were unable to appreciate Haitian Kreyol poetry.

When it was first published in 2001, Open Gate: An Anthology of Haitian Creole Poetry was the first bilingual anthology of Haitian Krey61 poetry translated into English. Laraque, who spent most of the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s living in exile in New York City, began developing the project with American poet and social activist Jack Hirschman (1933-) in 1993. Both poets were assisted in translation efforts by Haitian-born writers Boadiba and Max Manigat. Laraque, who emphasized the power of language, states that Kreyol is "a beautiful language with the rhythm of the drum and the images of a dream, especially in its poetry, and a powerful weapon in the struggle of our people for national and social liberation" (p. xiii).

Open Gate: An Anthology of Haitian Creole Poetry is divided into three sections--The Pioneers, The Society of Fireflies, and The New Generation--that trace the chronological development of Haitian Kreyol poetry from the 1950s to the 1990s. To avoid confusion between the Kreyol and French renditions of poet's names, the editors have listed the names of the poets in Kreyol first, followed by their Gallic names (often their birth names) in parenthesis. Paul Laraque, therefore, is presented as Pal Larak (Paul Laraque). In the text of the anthology, the author's Kreyol name is listed with the original Kreyol poem. The English translation, which follows, uses the author's Gallic name. The works of forty Haitian poets, including a moving poem written by Max Manigat to the memory of Morisseau-Leroy, are highlighted in the anthology. The editors, given their social activist backgrounds, have placed a strong emphasis on militant poems that express revolutionary ideas. According to Laraque, "poetry will contribute not only to transforming the world, but also to changing life" (p. xvi).

Laraque and Hirschman are to be commended for their effort to make a representative sample of the first fifty years of Kreyol poetry available to the English-speaking world. The poems are often inspiring and thought-provoking.

The book is also a valuable learning tool for non-Haitians attempting to learn Kreyol as well as newly literate Haitian Kreyol speakers seeking reading materials. This reviewer hopes that a team of poets from the new generation of Haitian Kreyol poets will follow in the footsteps of Laraque and Hirschman and provide readers with anthologies of more recent Kreyol poetry.

Michael R. Hall

Armstrong Atlantic State University