imperialism. Foreign powers in the late nineteenth-century still threaten Haiti and contaminate
the pure and innocent expressions of love. Durand’s poem “Epître,” for example, is one in a
series of poems in which the subject deprecates his own qualities and minimizes his own
importance in matters of love as in politics. “Epître” positions the poet, who is black, poor, and
powerless, against a German man who is the husband of this Haitian woman whom he loves.
The letter reveals the poet uncovering his own contradictions. He admits to being humble but
rebellions, having great resolve but taking no action, being a poet but incapable of expression:
“—étrange animal/Que le poète!...” The poem’s final stanza includes these verses:
--Pauvre, je décline la lutte
--Contre vous, prévoyant ma chute.
--Que me reste-t-il? –Implorer...
Grâce! l’on est dans l’indigence! (35-38)The poem ends with the poet’s defeat, reiterating at once his economic poverty andemotional exhaustion along with the poetic impoverishment of his own text. In “Choucoune,” to
be examined in more depth in the next section, a similar dynamic has a similar outcome. A
Haitian “marabout” leaves the black poet for a French-speaking foreigner:^229 As a song, this
piece became popular during the American Occupation of Haiti when Haitian women were
involved romantically with American soldiers. In both poems, the poet is left only to mourn his
loss and continue to long for the love he cannot have. The increasing German population in
Haiti at the end of the century, the impeding imperial interest in Haitian affairs by the United
States, and the vestiges of racism from French colonialism and slavery all make these poems
highly reflective of the social hierarchies and relational problems endemic to Haitian
communities of the time.
(^229) Michael Dash defines a ‘marabout’ in Haiti as a woman who has dark skin and flowing hair. Dash, The Other
America 50.