From “Chant in the Country of Shadows”
translated from the French by Nathalie Handal
Port-au-Prince an unceremonious doll
a Comme il faut cigarette
a My Dream lotion
a daytime star
at the ritual of mirrors
how do you say I love you to a city
a child’s drawing on a yellowed sheet
arabesques in blue pencil
a kite that rains endless waves
dreams travel at night
in the sleep of the seas
Port-au-Prince is a hand made
for the tenderness of jasmine
Récitatif au pays des ombres
Port-au-Prince une poupée sans façon
une cigarette Comme il faut
une lotion My Dream
une étoile le jour
au rituel des miroirs
comment dit-on je t’aime à une ville
un dessin d’enfant sur une feuille jaunie
des arabesques au crayon bleu
un cerf-volant qui pleut des vagues infinies
les rêves voyagent la nuit
dans le sommeil des mers
Port-au-Prince est une main faite
pour la tendresse du jasmin
Copyright © 2025 by Rodney Saint-Éloi. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on September 30, 2025, by the Academy of American Poets.
“I met Rodney Saint-Éloi years ago at Le Festival international de la poésie de Trois-Rivière in Quebec. His work moved me the way the waters instantly teach us to dream in motion. ‘Chant in the Country of Shadows’ is a lyrical meditation on Port-au-Prince—not as a city of memories, but as a living presence, beloved and haunted. The city embodies the weight of personal loss, collective trauma, political collapse and cultural survival. The poem evokes contradictions—beauty amidst violence, resilience amidst ruin.”
—Nathalie Handal
Rodney Saint-Éloi
