Open Gate: An Anthology of Haitian Creole Poetry

The first such collection available in English, Open Gate: An Anthology of Haitian Creole Poetry begins with works from the grandfather of Creole literature, Felix Morisseau-Leroy, and rounds out with today's poets in diaspora. Edited by Paul Laraque and Jack Hirschman, the collection addresses the poverty, violence and political struggle that characterize Haitian history, but there are also poems celebrating love or nature or simply the quotidian. As George Castera writes in ""Blood,"" ""Let's go see the blood flow,/ darling./ For once in a lifetime,/ it's not people's blood spilling,/ for once in the street/ it's not animal's blood flowing,/ let's go see the blood flow,/ darling:/ the sun is setting.""