Murielle Jassinthe: Of Country Bodies
Posted: March 6, 2012 Filed under: English, Murielle Jassinthe, ZP Translator: Alexander Best Comments Off on Murielle Jassinthe: Of Country Bodies
Jassinthe writes of this poem:
“I’m speaking here of two homeless drug-addicts. Having no shelter other than the banks of an urban river, there they sleep where solitude isolates them, pushes them toward a more physical closeness. Drug-taking and love-making help them forget the cold, the loneliness – and their Being.”
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Murielle Jassinthe was born in Québec in 1982 – of Haitian parentage.
Currently she’s pursuing a Masters in African and Francophone Literatures at Laval University where she works also as a research assistant. Two years ago, Éditions Bruno Doucey published “Land of Women” – an anthology of Haitian women poets spanning a century-and-a-half. Jassinthe’s poetry was included – one of the youngest voices. Last year, at Laval University’s Lantiss, she worked both as actress and production assistant on a play by Haitian playwright Guy Régis, Jr., entitled “La mort de soi dans sa longue robe de Mariée”. Also in 2011 Murielle received a writer’s grant from Première Ovation, and was mentored by poet Alix Renaud for the creation of her collection of poems with photographs, “Trouble Optik” – from which comes the poem we feature here.
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Poem translation from French into English:
Alexander Best – with Murielle Jassinthe
Zócalo Poets 