question of how to connect to Haiti’s past and imagine Haiti’s future is posed from the outset:
“Mais où donc allons-nous? ....” The last line of this long stanza confirms the present ambition
to “mettre un dernier terme à nos guerres civiles!” There are no easy answers though on how to
achieve this reality.
In “Réflexions,” the poet mentions Haitian heroes and states “rien n’est sacré pournous,’” not even Haiti’s founding fathers so to speak. Although Haitian writers are often deemed
as being obsessed with patriotism and instilling heroic cults, Coicou’s poems demonstrate once
again that historical and even cultural reasons substantiate these tendencies, when they do exist.
With the centennial approaching, not to mention Coicou’s own deep spiritual leanings and poetry
–mostly Romantic— in sentiment, Coicou clearly saw amidst national death a lack of all things
sacred. At the very least, Haiti must have reverence for its own revolution. Speaking of national
death may at least stir commitment to create something sacred. Haitian revolutionary leaders
then are the object of choice, and Coicou’s poems a vital part of this national quest. Various
poems addressed to certain leaders read as epitaphs while others address the Haitian “culte” more
collectively. It is again Haiti’s centennial that occasions these multiple reflections. In “Vision”
for example, the poet summarizes some of his poetic tendencies when he says, “Et je les
contemplais, moi dont l’âme vénérée/Les fronts olympiens; je voulais, à mon tour, /Que mon
culte atteignit leur grandeur centenaire." (17-19). Union, Liberty, and the date 1804 form a
“trinity” of worship and devotion. Amidst the many poems about national death, tombs, and
fallen heroes, are ones which suggest reviving their spirits, remembering their feats, and
embracing a spiritual notion of national past which will inspire present unity.
The teaching or re-examining of Haitian history for Coicou would also emphasizereclaiming the link between Haiti’s Revolution and racial resistance. Coicou’s own admitted