HAITIAN NIGHTS

(echoing......)

Nothing is as frightening as the Haitian night

("Ghetto nights, African nights, Brooklyn nights. Harlem nights, Compton Nights, Goree Island Nights, Congolese Nights. The Dance woman is dancing is Djouba - the traditional Haitian work dance.)

Nothing is as frightening as the Haitian night.
But it keeps me from being banal.

Nothing is as merciless as American racism,
and the biological fatalism of white privilege.
But it keeps me from pursuing trivial aims.

Circles within circles link them and me as we;
so i live without clutching the fears.
i've got work to be.

i wish everything was honky-dory.
That that "God" didn't just let shit happen, then let his silence reign -leaving me trashing about, both filled and drained, tryin' to rationalize him into being all
goody-goody again!

i wish everything was honky-dory.
That that shining Prince - no, not Machiavelli, you can keep him - would come along... and save me and my babies in Haiti. But no, i've got work to be.

******

(c) 1997 Ezili Dantò. Excerpt from The Red, Black & Moonlight monologue series, based on Kenbe La! Crossings of a Vodun-Roots Woman by Ezili Dantò. All rights reserved.