The burden of power
Alone on the parapet of a fortress, stumbling between sky and void, a sovereign howls his rage against the world. “The burden is heavy!” he bemoans in a display of self-pity and pathos. This is not a monarch in a Shakespearean tragedy, and though we’re at the Citadelle Laferrière, this is not King Henry. It […]
Rain
behind mountains more mountains behind sorrows more sorrows and hunger rain or shine the wind howls and rain comes again and again falls dark and blind morning same as evening every year the same and all the months the same since i saw the light there is no god no god to watch over me […]
two hundred thousand ghosts…
children die
do not talk to me about prayer
or paradise
talk is cheap
children die
and my anger supersedes my grief…
Conversation with the "Phenomenal Woman"
Phenomenal Woman Maya Angelou & Michèle Voltaire Marcelin Life Gift: Sharing a blessed moment with Maya Angelou, reciting her poem “I Rise” with her: “You may write me down in history With your bitter, twisted lies, You may trod me in the very dirt But still, like dust, I’ll rise. Out of the huts of […]
Through the Eyes of Artists
” Let the earth bear witness
Let the wind bear witness
Let the art bear witness…
They shall be remembered forever…”
don’t worry about me…
I finally reached her today. Since Tuesday, I had been praying and pressing the redial button on the phone. Redial had not worked, so I was hoping the prayers would. Amidst the desolation and news of relatives who had died and loved ones still unaccounted for, friends had sent a few messages saying they had […]
rift
underneath the beauty was a rift in the heart of the land was a rift and the rift in the land reached the rift in our heart and we lost our people and the land… michele voltaire marcelin haiti earthquake-tuesday january 12th,2010 -5pm
Michèle Voltaire Marcelin is a poet/writer, performer and painter who was born and raised in Haiti, sojourned in Chile, and currently lives in the United States. The publication of her first novel “La Désenchantée” (CIDIHCA, Montréal-2006) was followed by its Spanish translation “La Desencantada” and two other books of poetry and prose: “Lost and Found” and “Amours et Bagatelles” (CIDIHCA, Montréal-2009) - translated into Spanish by Editorial ALBA as "Amores y cosas sin importancia" - all of which garnered rave reviews. Her writings are also featured in 3 anthologies published in France: "Cahier Haiti" (published by RAL'M-2009), "Terre de Femmes" (Editions Bruno Doucey-2011) "Revue Intranqu'îllités" (2012). She speaks and writes fluently French, English, Spanish and Haitian Creole. She has a BFA from the Leonard Davis Center for the Performing Arts at CUNY and a Masters from The New School for Social Research.