The Butterfly’s Way: Voices from the Haitian Dyaspora in the United States is a special tome in more ways than one. It’s the first story anthology of Haitian and Haitian-American writers, for one, assembled and curated in the English language. Sectioned off in four little stages (Childhood, Migration, First Generation, and Return), the non-fiction narratives, essays and poems touch on everything from self-imposed exile, to identity, to colorism.
In “Exiled”, Sandy Alexandre writes of being sent to Haiti by her parents for rehabilitation, a parental practice among Haitian parents, who sent their unruly kids to Haiti to condition them to appreciate the luxuries and perks of privileged, “developed” world living. Gary Pierre-Pierre’s “The White Wife”, chronicles the story of a black man who feels no need to apologize for his choice. The indignant “Do Something for You Soul, Go to Haiti”, denounces patronizing and exploitation disguised as goodwill.
Some of the most color-filled stories about the ones where individuals like Francie Latour in “Made Outside” and Joanne Hyppolite straddle across two cultures. “At your communion and birthday parties,” Hyppolite writes, “all of Boston Haiti seems to gather in your house to eat griyo and sip kremas.” In Marc Christophe’s poem “Present Past Future” (no commas in the title, therefore signifying that all three are interconnected and inseparable, and perhaps part of an ongoing cycle, he declares: “I would love to recite for you/The history of my people/Their daily struggles for food and drink/Whose lives are a struggle with no end.”
This collection is so varied that it will bring out a plethora of emotions out in you, a tear, a chuckle, and in some cases, a nod of the head.
