Coicou’s depictions of the inevitable point to an almost intangible and expansive power,one not always specific to any nation per se, but a system of forces which would end Haiti’s
hope for existence into the next century. If Haitians are complicit in foreign power, then the
binary opposition between “Force”as foreign and “Justice” as Haitian is already problematic.
Later in the poem the verse “Nous n’avons pas pris place au rang des nations” echoes the theme
of national failure from “Introduction.” Although Haiti had sought for nearly a century to
establish itself as an independent republic, Coicou sensed that this was not to be. He foregrounds
Haiti as a conflictual space between global powers which foster internal divisions and render
Haitian identity nearly obsolete. The menacing force in this poem can be read on multiple
levels: it refers to the real military, economic, and political threat of many nations while making
the chief foreign invasion one of values related to racial equality and preservation of sovereignty.
4.3.2 Gun-boats and Yankees
The foreigner in Haiti is portrayed not only as oblivious to Haitian culture and nationalpride but also as ignorant of the larger implications of History. Returning to “Cauchemar,” the
reader will note the contrasts between the supposed ‘crimes’ committed by Haitians and the
colonial violence of forced displacement and slavery. In this way, Coicou’s poetry responds to
Western accusations of Haitian brutality, contextualizing what Haitians had argued as a
necessary violence to claim for themselves the liberties they had been denied. This viewpoint
was already part of Haitian thought before the articulations of Frantz Fanon who in The
Wretched of the Earth that national liberation is always a violent phenomenon and that it is in