You Learned In School That You Have

I Was Able To Not Fold And Go In A Corner Because I Had My Writing As Therapy, But Also As My Tool For Struggle.

When You Write, It’s Like Braiding Your Hair. Taking A Handful Of Coarse Unruly Strands And Attempting To Bring Them Unity. Your Fingers Have Still Not Perfected The Task. Some Of The Braids Are Long, Others Are Short. Some Are Thick, Others Are Thin. Some Are Heavy. Others Are Light. Like The Diverse Women Of Your Family. Those Whose Fables And Metaphors, Whose Similes And Soliloquies, Whose Diction And Je Ne Sais Quoi Daily Slip Into Your Survival Soup, By Way Of Their Fingers.

The Whole History Between Haiti And The Dominican Republic Is Complicated. We Share The Island Of Hispaniola, And Haiti Occupied The Dominican Republic For Twenty-two Years After 1804 For Fear That The French And Spanish Would Come Back And Reinstitute Slavery. So We Have This Unique Situation Of Being Two Independent Nations On The Same Island, But With Each Community Having Its Own Grievance.

There [haiti] Were Also Leaders Like Jean-jacques Dessalines, Whose Motto Was, "cut Their Heads Off, Burn Their Houses."

Here, Though, There Is Nothing. Nothing At All. The Sky Seems Empty Even When I Am Looking At The Moon And Stars.