• Property of a Blue Sea
• Albert Dépas (bio)

AYITI (Haiti) a slim volume of twenty-five pages, classified under poetry by the publisher, Finishing Line Press, is a bold and daring title by Daniel Wolff, a noted writer of nonfiction as well. His most recent, Grown-Up Anger: The Connected Mysteries of Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie and the Calumet Massacre of 1913 (2017) was a Michigan Notable Book. He was also nominated for a Grammy.

To use the name of the country, without a subtitle that would suggest the intent or focus of the writer, presents an open field of possibilities of what the reader might experience from this chapbook size collection. It contains nine poems, including one long quote presented as poetic verse. The first line opens with "Our job is to intervene." Though AYITI is presented under poetry, the book is evenly divided between these nine poems and a series of narratives that communicate the writer's knowledge and experience about the country that the book is titled after.

It is through these carefully crafted stories that Wolff works his magic. He provides the necessary information and background to justify the stand-alone title Ayiti. Embedded in these narratives, especially "Caribbean," Wolff affords the reader an opportunity to learn about the place that he has discovered. In a few short paragraphs of "Caribbean," he outlines a concise historical account of Haiti that starts with the geological formation of the topography and advances to the political realities over time. This includes social and cultural developments all the way up to the modern period. This is an original attempt to capture the complexity of Haiti as a developing democracy.

Following his lyrical and narrative depiction of Haiti is an untitled poem. The first line includes the phrase "the illusion of Haiti." Whereas in the narrative of "Caribbean," Wolff presents a factual account of the country, here, in this poem, he builds on personal experiences and through his imagination—he offers the reader a loaded visual depiction of the country. Though which images, fully charged with his sentiments, he appears to be of his own perception. Anyone who knows something about Haiti is quite familiar with the grim characteristics rendered in "The illusion of Haiti." However, what he achieves in this poem and others, in this modest publication, is reconstructing the cognitive awareness of the reader to afford an occasion of primal experience.

The illusion of Haitiis the illusionof dark mountainsthat can be pried off a blue sea.As if a stamp underneath read, "PROPERTY OF."

In this first stanza of the poem, I am forced to pause and consider, what is it like for a dark mountain to be pried off a blue sea? What is the poet attempting to evoke or how is it that I, the reader, should envision Haiti through his lens? For my own personal comfort, this is an image that I must fathom. I was born in Haiti and I believe that I have a good understanding of Haitian history and the nation psyche. However, I am intrigued to discover how a foreigner arrives at his/her perception of the country. This construct, I believe, leads to the types and quality of his relationships with the people he imagines. Even more poignant, are the two lines that follow, "As if a stamp underneath / read, "PROPERTY OF." Here I might imagine whatever his illusion may be, whoever owns this "PROPERTY," this Land, would control the people. After all, it appears that Haiti, though seen as an illusion, has a concrete reality.

Throughout this collection of narratives and poetry, the reality I think Wolff is putting forward is that this dark mountain is seen as an illusion. This illusion is very much in the hands or mind of those who dictate, direct, and decide every step of its outcome. Embedded through his poems are capsules of imagination that may contain far more truth that any facts could reveal.

Our job is to intervene.I mean, we already kicked butt.Our orders are to...

• 蓝海的财产
• 阿尔伯特·德帕斯（生物）

AYITI（海地）仅有25页，由出版商Finishing Line Press进行诗歌分类，是一本大胆而又大胆的书名，也是非小说类作家丹尼尔·沃尔夫（Daniel Wolff）的作品。他最近的《长大了的愤怒：鲍勃·迪伦（Bob Dylan），伍迪·古思里（Woody Guthrie）和1913年的卡卢梅特大屠杀》（Carumet Massacre）的连系之谜是密歇根州著名的书。他还获得了格莱美奖提名。

要使用国家/地区的名称，而没有会暗示作者意图或重点的字幕，则表示读者可能会从此chapbook大小集合中体会到的可能性的开放领域。它包含九首诗，其中包括一首长诗集。第一行以“我们的工作是干预”开头。尽管AYITI是以诗歌形式呈现的，但本书在这九首诗和一系列叙事之间平均分配，这些叙事传达了作者对本书所冠名的国家的知识和经验。

通过这些精心制作的故事，沃尔夫发挥了他的魔力。他提供了必要的信息和背景来证明独立标题Ayiti的合理性。沃尔夫（Wolff）嵌入这些叙述中，尤其是“加勒比海”，为读者提供了一个机会，了解他所发现的地方。在“加勒比海”的几段短文中，他概述了海地的简要历史记录，该历史记录始于地形的地质形成，并随着时间的推移发展到政治现实。这包括直至现代的社会和文化发展。这是抓住海地作为发展中的民主国家的复杂性的原始尝试。

在他对海地的抒情和叙事描写之后，这首诗就是一首无题的诗。第一行包括短语“海地的错觉”。沃尔夫（Wolff）在“加勒比海”的叙事中讲述了该国的事实，在这首诗中，他基于个人经验并通过他的想象力，为读者提供了对该国的丰富视觉描绘。尽管哪张照片充分体现了他的情感，但他似乎有自己的见识。任何对海地一无所知的人都对“海地幻象”中的严峻特征非常熟悉。但是，他在这首诗和其他诗歌中所取得的成就，正在重建读者的认知意识，以提供原始体验的机会。

海地的错觉是可以从蔚蓝的大海中窥探出的黑暗山脉的错觉。好像在下面的图章上写着“财产”。

在这首诗的第一节中，我不得不停下来思考一下，从蓝色的大海上撬下一座黑暗的山是什么感觉？？诗人试图唤起什么？或者我（读者）应该如何通过他的镜头来想象海地？为了我个人的舒适，这是我必须理解的形象。我出生于海地，我相信我对海地的历史和民族心理有很好的了解。但是，我很感兴趣地发现一个外国人如何达到他/她对这个国家的看法。我相信，这种结构会导致他与他想象中的人的关系的类型和质量。紧随其后的两行语词是：“好像邮票下面/上面写着“财产”。在这里，我可以想象，无论谁拥有这个“财产”，即这片土地，谁都能控制人民，他的幻想是什么。毕竟，尽管海地被看作是一种幻想，但似乎确实有一个具体的现实。

在整个叙事和诗歌中，我认为沃尔夫提出的现实是，这座黑暗的山峰被视为一种幻想。那些支配，指导和决定其结果的每一步的人都非常想像这种幻觉。在他的诗歌中蕴藏着想象力，囊括了任何事实都可以揭示的更多真相。

我们的工作是进行干预。我的意思是，我们已经踢屁股了。我们的订单是为了...