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In the Beast’s Alley

Poems of conscience

Tontongi

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the Beast’s Alley, Tontongi • Trilingual Press • 2013 • 202 pages •
ISBN 13: 978-1-936431-13-7 • ISBN 10: 1-936431-13-0 • $20.00 + $3.95.

In the Beast’s Alley

Dans In the Beast’s Alley, écrit en anglais avec quatre poèmes traduits en créole haïtien, Tontongi continue son emphase sur la poésie comme arme de combat au service de ce qu’il appelle le rêve d’être, le projet de l’être. Récusant la notion que la poésie doive être décorative, divertissante ou consolante, Tontongi la replace au centre de la praxis de l’existence, il appelle sa poésie une poésie de conscience, une poésie de libération (pour lui c’est la même chose). Les témoignages plus bas montreront aux lecteurs les appréciations d’autres écrivains sur cet ouvrage de Tontongi.

Nan In the Beast’s Alley, yon nouvo zèv Tontongi ekri ann anglè, avèk 4 powèm tradui an kreyòl ayisyen, misye kontinye mete aksan sou pwezi kòm zam pou konba, osèvis sa li rele a yon rèv pou grandèt sa moun ye, yon pwojè pou grandèt sa moun ye. Misye rejte nosyon pwezi te ka la sèlman pou dekorasyon, divètisman ak konsolasyon ; li plase li okontrè nan nannan nanm praksis pou lavi, pou ekzistans, li rele pwezi li yon pwezi konsyans, yon pwezi pou liberasyon (pou misye toulède se menm bagay). Temwayaj nou pibliye pi ba nan paj la yo montre apresyasyon lòt ekriven sou liv Tontongi sila a.

In the Beast’s Alley, the second English collection of poems by Tontongi, continues his emphasis on poetry as weapon of struggle, for what he calls the “dream of being” or the “project of being.” Rejecting the notion that poetry should be eminently decorative, entertaining or consolatory, Tontongi resituates poetry at the center of the praxis for existence; he calls his work a poetry of conscience, a poetry for liberation, which is for him the same thing. The testimonials at the end of the page show appreciations by other writers of this new book by Tontongi.

“Tontongi is a political poet in the best sense of that term. He is a poet of solidarity, who writes of, and speaks for, suffering humanity all around him. He is a poet of vision, who sees the connections between human cataclysms that others may not see. He is a poet of history, who links the struggles of the past with the struggles of the present. He is a poet of both intellect and compassion. We need more like him, in the classrooms and in the streets. ¡Viva Tontongi!” - Martín Espada, writer, author.

“The poet who writes equally in Haitian, French and American-English and who has done more than any other for Haitian literature and the Haitian people in the U.S. through his magazine, Tanbou, and his trilingual press, here shows how immensely engaged he is in our language, whether writing about Mumia Abu-Jamal, Gaza, the Haitian earthquake, the Boston Marathon bombing and the like. A Tontongi triumph of righteousness, poem after poem after poem.” - —Jack Hirschman, Revolutionary Poets Brigade

“In the Beast’s Alley is poetry of conscience penetrating centuries of epic resistance to bring us testimonies to our humanity through shared suffering and resilience up to the present—from the Haitian people who refused to “wait for Godot” to salvage and reconstruct after the earthquake and the city of Boston’s collective stamina in the wake of the Marathon bombings. The writer transforms the language of his second home, the United States, through an original poetic project that refuses to villainize and idealize within the dynamics of oppression, creating pathways for social justice through empathic bonds across local communities that challenge global systems of domination. This is writing that resurrects comradeship as poetic act.” - Anna Wexler, writer and teacher.

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