For National Peotry Month Complexd Woman presents  Spoken Word artist and second generation Haitian Melissa Beauvery.

 Music was very important when I was growing up. My mother was always nostalgic about the Haiti she remembered and would play the old songs of her childhood and generations before her. She would sit in the kitchen on Saturdays with some of her friends reminiscing about the Haiti they knew and missed. It temporarily transported them back home and allowed them to forget about their strenuous working hours and the cold weather and just close their eyes and sing along with Gerard Dupervil. They had this glow on their faces I could never forget, it made me wonder what was it about their homeland that made them so teary-eyed when the song was finished. Their hearts were clearly still in Haiti and that is what fuelled my passion for learning about who I am as a child of Haiti.

My spoken word is largely influenced by the oral traditions of West Africa, the ‘Krik Krak’ traditions of Haiti and the urban rhythm of the spoken word scene in the East Coast. The different parts of me always manifest through my work, especially when I tell a story. The stories I tell open a dialogue between the different worlds of Haiti and America. There is often a misconstruction between these worlds so I strive to write stories that illustrate both countries. It is very important to me as a Haitian American for my stories to help people understand what it means to have two very different identities.

In a video filmed, directed and produced by women, Melissa Beauvery speaks about her poem, ‘My Grandmothers Tongue’ …

Directed and produced by Francesca Andre/Director of Photography Ashley Panzera

‘The feet of women are already caressing the dusty roads, before the day would have the audacity to appear’

Images titled ‘Fanm Komes’ (Business Women) by Haitian photographer Francesca Andre