Child of the Mango Tree: Growing Up in Countryside Haiti

Denizé Lauture's tale of a young peasant boy who wants to be a vodoo priest but will become a poet unfolds tenderly, revealing an understanding that progress is cyclical. The young may rarely share the vantages of the old, like having a great-grandparent who remembers the sound of the only successful enslaved people's rebellion, yet we still experience the horrors of oppression. Poets remain the best storytellers because they remember that God is in the details-taxonomy of tropical trees, methods of slaughtering pigs, French grammar, Creole colloquialism, or techniques to samba. Heaven and hell are not a consequence but a mythological fact available for you to engage or resign. Haiti, a verdant yet an accursed idea of a place, embodies all the tragedies of humanity. You will be filled with envy, joy, nostalgia, and sorrow as you watch the Child of the Mango Tree leaping from tree limb to tree limb while becoming a resilient person among his folks. -Greg Fuchs Poet, Educator, Publisher of Denize's The Black Warrior and A Kiss to the Land