I
the Kingmaker
Wiremu Tamihana Tarapipipi
first told
the History of Haiti
in New Zealand
in the midst of the sea
lies a ruined land
the Republic of Haiti
yet that country is where
the world became young
once more
there the French Revolution
ate its black children
and Justice
severe virgin
in turn
set her hounds
on the French
o Black Diane
a mountain stands
full of forest and streams
where a great man
is buried upright
his back is to France
his face is towards
the United States
his left arm is for
Venezuela
his right arm is for
Cuba
he is the power
of the black people
of the island
he is the second
great revolution
of the Americas
he is the only
successful slave revolt
in history
the head of gold
is Toussaint Louverture
the silver breast
is Jacques Dessalines
the brass abdomen
is Alexandre Petion
his legs and iron ass
are Jean Pierre Boyer
and Faustin Soulouque
the foot of clay
he rests on
is Henri Christophe
the man is ruptured
shoulder to butt
by this massive fissure
which seeps
rivers of death
from all the treasons
and betrayal
there is the river
of massacre and fire
there is the river
of annihilation
there is the buried river
of the promise
that Haiti will keep
the missing river
is oblivion
II
language
is a crossroads
for them
governed by
a crooked man
the woman at grief
in her song
the young brown man
largely quiet
the crowd in tumult
like a breaker
by natural converse
and exchange
their Reo there
isn’t French
which is mostly saved
for writing
how they speak
to their tupuna
and mokopuna alike
is in
the long slow smoke
of creole crackling
lifting
whiter than a cloud
above the bush
not the beachfront
of a pidgin
at a loss upriver
III
smoke
must go up
black
for it
to go up
white
the whole island
can burn
and we will find
our home in it
we too
can beat
the best armies
of Europe
fortify
as well as
Vauban
defend
a fighting pa
like Crete-a-Pierrot
build our
Sans Souci
make the land
work for us
those governors general
emperors presidents
king
have been
misunderstood
sometimes the people
just have to have
their farms
the great plantations
lie in ruins
go back to the bush
like Toussaint
like Dessalines
we can fight
the Pakeha
or make
the Government come
and talk to us
we are all
either labourers
in the same vineyard
or the vine
can go and burn
Tauranga Napier
New Plymouth Whanganui
the Pakeha
can evacuate
those towns
and we will
burn them
just as we did
Kororareka
the Pakeha
are building
their iron man
railway
and setting it
in the ground
in place of
their whenua
we must make
our stars
put them
deathless
in the sky
while we combat
the night
back down
on the land
IV
blessed be
God
blessed be
his Holy Name
blessed be
his angels and saints
blessed be
the Black Madonna
virgin and mother
blessed be
Toussaint
who was l’ouverture
blessed be
the Revolution
his great opening
for human kind
blessed be
Dessalines
the victor
of Vertieres
blessed be
his holy cannon
louder than
hurricane
blessed be
Henri Christophe
for showing
how black men build
blessed be
the Abbe Raynal
for realizing
Liberty is a woman
who is black
or else not at all
blessed be
Dutty Boukman
prophet of the nation
blessed be
Cecile Fatiman
mother of the nation
blessed be
the Libyan Sibyl
who dwells
on Saint-Domingue
blessed be
Marie-Madeleine Lachenais
the wisest woman
in America
blessed be
M. Petion
who bankrolled
Simon Bolivar
blessed be
M. Boyer
who established
public credit
and ratcheted down
the French debt
blessed be
Lysius Salomon
who is paying off
that debt
Hail the Duke of Tabara
God keep President Geffrard
for the example
of his republic
blessed be
the black Pharos
in every corner
of the earth
blessed be
its holy martyrs
its slaves zealous
for freedom
through a nation
God save
Niu Tireni
may there be
the King
and mana motuhake
on the land
Blackwells
Oxford
8 January 2016
This poem requires notes for Maori and Haitian references. I have adapted the Old Man of Crete story in Dante’s Inferno XIV ll. 91 ff.
Te Reo means the Maori language. Tupuna are ancestors, mokopuna are young children, grandchildren. Whenua is the placenta placed in the ground after a child is born. Mana Motuhake is Maori sovereignty. Niu Tireni is New Zealand. We Pakeha are the white people of New Zealand. A pa is a fortress. Kororareka was the first settler town in New Zealand, ransacked and fired during the Northern War.
Wiremu Tamihana Tarapipipi (d. 1865) was the Kingmaker and a founder of the Kiingitanga, the Maori Kingship. He published an article on Haiti in the Kiingitanga newspaper “Te Hokioi” of 2 April 1863. Haiti was discussed at the foundational Kiingitanga conferences or hui.
Dutty Boukman (d. 1791) was the voodoo priest who instigated the slave rebellion of 1791 and prophesied that its leaders would ultimately succeed.
Cecile Fatiman was the mambo at the ceremony where Boukman raised the revolt at Bois Caiman. She later married the 5th President Louis Michel Pierrot ( 1845-46). Was she the mother of Marie Louise Amelie Celine Pierrot who married Pierre Nord Alexis, the 19th President (1902-8)?
Toussaint Breda or Toussaint Louverture was Lieutenant Governor of Saint-Domingue (1787-1801) and Governor General (1801-1802).
Jacques Dessalines was Governor General (1804) and Emperor Jacques I (1804-6).
Henri Christophe was President of the ” State of Haiti” in the North (1807-11) and King Henri I ( 1811-20). He build the World Heritage castle and palace of Sans Souci.
Alexandre Petion was 1st President of the Republic of Haiti (1806-18).
Jean Pierre Boyer was its second President ( 1828-43).
Marie-Madeleine Lachenais was the mistress and political advisor of both Alexandre Petion and of Jean Pierre Boyer. She was arguably the Mme de Stael and the Princess Lieven of the Haitian Republic. She hated Faustin Soulouque.
Faustin Soulouque was 7th President ( 1847-49) and Emperor Faustin I (1849-59).
Fabre Geffrard, the Duke of Tabara under Faustin I, was the 8th President ( 1859-67).
Lysius Salomon was 13th President of Haiti (1879-1888) and Minister of Finance under Faustin Soulouque.