Home »

"Maroon" poetry book by Danielle Legros Georges

Danielle Legros Georges was born in Haiti and raised in the United States. Her poems have appeared in ?The American Poetry Review,? ?The Caribbean Writer,? ?Christian Science Monitor,? ?Ibbetson Street,? and ?Compost.? Her poems explore her Haitian heritage, and the experience of being an immigrant in the United States. Her latest book of poetry is entitled ?Maroon? ( Curbstone Press). She currently teaches at Lesley University.

DH: I did my thesis on the conflict of assimilation in Henry Roth?s acclaimed novel, ?Call It Sleep.? Conflict is good for material for poetry. Was your assimilation a factor in you becoming a poet?

DLG: Yeah, I think it absolutely influenced me. I think as an immigrant I was forced to deal with two different, sometimes contradictory, cultures. I had to, along with my brothers and other kids, make sense of what we were experiencing. What my parents were telling us was sometimes useful in an American context, but not always. We had to figure things out, and writing helped me do that.I have lots of memories of trying to figure things out. I was trying to figure my parents out too. We were confronted by images of the American family in popular culture like the ?Brady Bunch.?

DH: Did you ever feel restricted by your ethnic background?

DLG: Not at all. It has given me a richer life. I can easily go to Haiti, or live here. My duality helps me appreciate different cultures. It has helped me appreciate language and how language is structured. Because I speak more than one language, I think I can look at language in somewhat objective terms.

DH: You were a technical writer?

DLG: I worked as a technical writer. I worked as an editor as well. I was an editor at the Harvard Law School.

DH: Where did you get your MFA?

DLG: I went to NYU. I studied with Galway Kinnell. Studying with him was a very positive experience. I studied with a lot of amazing people.

DH: Do you miss New York City?

DLG: Yes, I do. I love the pace and energy of the city. I love how democratic it is. I mean, if you think you are something special, like you speak three languages, just get in a cab and talk to your driver. He might tell you he was a nuclear physicist, and he came back from Mars. New York has a way of keeping you very humble because people are doing so many interesting things.

DH: Is Boston provincial in comparison?

DLG: Well, you know, Boston is a small town. There are some great things about its smallness, but if some things changed that wouldn?t be too bad. It has so much to offer in terms of educational institutions. I came back to Boston because I was finished with graduate school and I needed a break. Initially, I came back only for the summer, but I got a job and stayed. I think there is a dedicated literary community here. People come out to hear you read and support you.

DH: Who are some of your favorite writers and poets?

DLG: Afaa Michael Weaver, Charles Coe, Deborah DiNicola, Martin Espada, of course, he?s out in Amherst.

DH: Do you teach Creative Writing?

DLG: I do. I teach Creative writing to practicing teachers, or people who are studying to be teachers. I teach in a hybrid program. The emphasis is less on poetry as a craft than as a learning tool.

DH: What do you look for in a poem?

DLG: Great attention to structure. I look for language that is remarkable, that is doing very interesting things. Poetry that makes us look at the world in ways we never looked at the world before. Poetry that defamiliarizes the familiar. I look for interesting metaphors, poetry that pays attention to sound, and poetry that plays with sound as a carrier of meaning.

DH: In your poetry collection, ?Maroon? your poetry, to some extent, deals with you grappling with a new language. You wrote in one poem that you were ?greedy for decoding.? Are you still greedy for language?

DLG: Yeah I am greedy for language. I like unusual language. I like language that jars you, that is playful, that is imaginative. I like language that cuts through what we are used to. That ?s what poetry is about. Everybody has access to language ... how do poets make it interesting.

DH: What has your experience been like as a Haitian American in academia?

DLG: Wow. Doug, man. I don?t know if I want to go there. It has its challenges especially in this enlightened area in which we live. It?s probably no different from any industry where you are not in a majority. There is a lot of freedom in the academy. It is a complicated question.

ANOTHER ODE TO SALT

Danielle Legros Georges

We navigate

snow not ours,

grown used to,

one cold foot over another,

adopt accoutrements:

a red scarf wind-wrapped

and tight,

boot?their bottoms teethed

like sharks?

shackling

our ebon ankles,

the weight of wool coats

borrowed from pale-skinned Gauls.

Masters at this now,

we circumvent ice

as we do time, reach home

The salt you bend to cast

parts the snow around us.

I bend with you,

and think of the original sea,

harbors of danger and history,

passing through the middle

in boats a-sail in furious storms,

human cargo, heavy,

of mystères, renamed,

submerged and pure

riding dark waves

floating long waves to the other side

of the water

and the other side

and the next.