Mots de terre / Voices of the Earth: Haiti by Bathelemy Bolivar

Winnipeg, Canada (April 26, 2010). Bathélemy Bolivar has just published a bilingual volume of poetry: Mots de terre / Voices of the Earth. The collection deals with the earthquake that occurred on January 12, killing more than 300,000 people and leaving more than a million homeless.

This book paints a moving picture of Haiti and the chronic suffering of its people in the form of a long poem. It constitutes an appeal on behalf of a country struggling to carry on, stirring the conscience of a world that has become all too accustomed to hearing about disasters. It describes the horror of January 12, 2010 and the cries of an entire people who continue to face the anguish of a nightmare that will not end. Mots de terre / Voices of the Earth traces the dramatic moments in the fate of a nation whose vulnerability has been so clearly exposed by this unprecedented catastrophe.

Here is an excerpt:

te voir partir te voir ensevelir les tresses qui restent des palmiers porteurs d'étoiles ces derniers jours qui se soustraient au désespoir frileux sous le soleil qui se dégonfle

to see you disappear to see you bury the tousled heads of the palms that once gazed into the stars in these last days that shrink from the shivering despair that huddles under a waning sun

Bathélemy Bolivar is a teacher, poet and essayist who has lived in Winnipeg since 2002. His publications include Manguiers têtus (Éditions du Blé, 2005), for which he received the Prix littéraire Rue Deschambault 2007, and Rebondir (Éditions d'art Le Sabord, 2007). He is currently enrolled in a doctoral program in the teaching of science and mathematics at the University of Manitoba.

Rosmarin Heidenreich is a translator who holds a doctorate in comparative literature from the University of Toronto. She has published numerous articles, essays and reviews as well as four books of literary criticism.

All proceeds from sales of this book will be used to create a distance education program that will offer free, high-quality courses for students whose schools were destroyed in the earthquake of January 12, 2010.

The book can be purchased through the following sites:

1) amazon.com (http://amzn.to/9u4AIJ)

2) https://www.createspace.com/3443892