Sunday, January 17, 2010

ayiti nou led, nou la [9]


ayiti nou led, nou la

a sudden release from earthen crust,
a magnitude of seven, that seismic
heave & catastrophic shake; a nation
displaced & existential point reached
when circumstance nearly overwhelms
a beleagured people’s spirit, rushing,
falling headlong to denouement; to
ayiti nou led, nou la.

chauffard, initial point of rupture, is
but ten miles south of pòtoprens, where
corpses barricade the boulevards &
death is vended off the streets. but out
of mountains of despair can be hewn
pillars of hope. a world is rushing to
her aid; hope rises above corruption in
ayiti nou led, nou la.

we can bury the dead & tend to the living,
heal the sick, feed the hungry. we can
minister to the poor; raise them up. we can
even level the cities & build them anew with
straight streets & caretakers, quakeproof
shelter & resolve – but can we answer the
ugly, perplexing questions regarding
ayiti nou led, nou la.

like why are her forests felled & why do
the rains steal precious topsoil from her
naked hillsides. why is farming now
impossible, driving the poor to city slums?
why is hunger rife & infant death so high?
why is access to clean water, sanitation so low?
where does the blame for this truly lie in
ayiti nou led, nou la?

plenty blame to spread around. to victims,
the seething poor, to ghostly local powers pillaging
the mechanisms of state. to yankee occupation,
to penetrating foreign capital repeatedly
raping a captive source of raw materials
in high demand; to mulattos, noirists &
indemnity – a potpourri of blame for
ayiti nou led, nou la!

©Joseph McNair;2010

4 comments:

  1. Very insightful, I've wrestled with the same questions in my mind long before the tragic quake. I'm no conspiracy theorist but I fear the answers are a lot worse than local corruption and mismanagement of resources by both the people and outsiders.
    My prayers are with the people.

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  2. As are mine. Good to hear from you, John

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  3. Excellent! very profound and transportive.

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