The Creole Sonnet & Mama Wata
"Kreyòl pale kreyòl knoprann."
"Creole speaks Creole understands."1
Is there a Creole sonnet? I ask this in all seriousness. Are there poets in Haiti and the Haitian diaspora writing sonnets in Creole? The little I know of the language I find fascinating; this mixture of French and West African Wolof relocated into the New World as Europe built their slavery empires with human lives. Pol Larak (Paul Laraque) writes in the Introduction to Open Gate:
It is a mixture of French, spoken by the white masters, and of the Black slaves' African languages and dialects, during colonial times. It can be a revolutionary one in the interests of the masses, or a reactionary one if manipulated by the cruel exploiting classes. It is a beautiful language with the rhythm of the drum and the images of a dream, especially in its poetry, and a powerful weapon in the struggle of our people for national and social liberation.
(page xiii)
And in the same concept that a language, a tool in other words, can be used to both liberate and enslave depending on the user and purposes is the same impulse that drives me to ask about the sonnet. The sonnet is just a form, a tool, and it too is no more reactionary than the poet who uses it. I love the sonnet and find it has been used world wide by a huge range of poets over the ages to express their personal visions. That speaks volumes to me.
Failing to find a Creole sonnet, I wonder how hard it would be to write one myself? First I need to learn the language, which has been a stumbling block for many of my translating adventures. Who can I turn to? We don't have any Mama Wata houngan (Haitian vodou priest or priestess) or hounfour (vodou temple) in Lansing, as far as I know; thus I must turn back to books for what I am learning. That usually does not work as well as I wish. Alex van Stipriaan has a very interesting article, Watramama/ Mami Wata2 on the subject. A quote from Wikipedia that caught my eye runs as follows:
As her name would imply, the goddess is closely associated with water. Traditions on both sides of the Atlantic tell of the goddess abducting her followers or random people whilst they are swimming or boating. She brings them to her paradisiacal realm, which may be underwater, in the spirit world, or both. The captives' release often hinges on some sort of demand, ranging from sexual fidelity to the goddess to something as simple as a promise that they do not eat fish. Should she allow them to leave, the travellers usually returns in dry clothing and with a new spiritual understanding reflected in their gaze. These returnees often grow wealthier, more attractive, and more easygoing after the encounter.
A Watramama sonnet? Is there one out there? Still, this is just a beginning. Something to chew on as I look about, ask and talk. Perhaps tomorrow I will find a Creole sonnet? Perhaps, we shall see.
- Hirschman and Boadiba Open Gate: an anthology of Haitian Creole Poetry. Williamantic, CT: Curbstone Press (2001) pages, 80-81 [back]
- Gordon Collier and Ulrich Fleischmann (eds). A pepper-pot of cultures: aspects of Creolization in the Caribbean. Amsterdam; New York, NY: Rodopi (2003) pages 323 - 337. [back]