translated from the French by Jerrice J. Baptiste
In the hollow of a dark and quiet mountain,
where the wind stops blowing,
leaves of the trees are silent
birds don’t sing.
You don’t even hear the sound of silence.
It was midnight, the sky was overcast
no moon, no stars
a mysterious but welcoming place.
There, an old shark is resting.
Retired, tired, his breath is low
his battle in the ocean is over.
He understood that everything was vanity
moving away from his friends where everything is calm.
A historic and fabulous encounter.
Roodly Laurore has been a writer all of his adult life. Most recently, he has been published in Kosmos Journal and continues to explore both languages of French and Haitian Creole in poetry. Roodly is married and a father of two sons who live in Haiti. He is passionate about writing and sharing. Roodly is an engineer.
Jerrice J. Baptiste is the author of eight books. She’s a poet in residence at the Prattsville Art Center in NY. Jerrice was also the recipient of a residency at the Omega Institute for the Women’s Leadership program in 2019. She has been extensively published in journals and magazines such as The Yale Review; Kosmos Journal; The Caribbean Writer; Mantis and many others. She lives in NY where she joyfully teaches poetry.
