Three Leaves, Three Roots - Poems on the Haiti-Congo Story

A Haitian-born, Boston-based poet explores the personal and political stories of the Haitians who were part of Congo’s 1960s decolonization movement Between 1960 and 1975, thousands of Haitian professionals emigrated to Congo, a fellow Black francophone nation that emerged under the revolutionary new leadership of Patrice Lumumba. As Danielle Legros Georges writes in the introduction to this collection, these emigres sought to “escape repression in Haiti, start new lives in Africa, and participate in a decolonizing Congo.” Among them were her parents. Grounded in these personal and social histories, The result is a richly layered portrayal of an era of decolonization and rebuilding, a time that sparked with both promise and vulnerability for the Pan-Africanist and Black Power movements. This collection is an important work of Haitian American poetry and of Black history: it reminds us, artfully, that movements of solidarity among people of color have always existed and always will exist.

List of contents

Introduction

CONGO 1960s

Because
Whites in Congo Flee by Ferry
in this poem, do not use the word revolution
Hands are a matter,
Cobalt
My beloved companion,
A Reply of Pauline Opango Lumumba
Le Congo, c est moi

CUBA 1950s

Because
Fidel Wears No Hat
Estimada amiga,

HAITI 1960s

Because
Because
Instructions in Times of Emergency
When a book is a sentence
François Duvalier, Country Doctor
François Duvalier, Living God
Simone Duvalier

CROSSINGS 1960s

Because
Diaspora
Diaspora
What Is Water?
Because
I Pray the United Nations Bureau Will Forward This Card to My Brother Rodney Georges Who Is Currently in the Congo, Whose Address I Don t Know
Letter from Léo
The Reasons of Jacqueline Romain
The Reasons of Rigobert Carty
The Lake Behind You
Thysville, 1966
Headwaters
The Reasons of Ertha Élysée Auguste
Notes on the School in Kinshasa
Max Manigat in Kenge
The Work
Unannounced Evaluation
Critique de Leçons
The Contract of GEORGES, Rodney
an accolade and ache

CONGO 1965 1975

Because
The environment was different from what I had known all my life
what we missed and attempted to replicate
what we found new and glorious
Avenue des Flamboyants
Beer and Babies
In Kinshasa
Because
Trouble in Your Country
Makak
Mobutu Sese Seko, Messiah
The Record of An Attempt to Purge the Country of Colonial Influence by Mobutu (and Unrelatedly a List of Cities in Which Haitians Lived, with Underscores Signaling Antecedents Unknown to Me)
I could have
Postcard | Front and Back
Your Footprints

CROSSINGS 1970s

The Tintin Books
Sunday
Unwritten Letters to Their Parents by Children Boarding with Relatives in Port-au-Prince

CROSSINGS 1986

Power

CROSSINGS ARTIFACTS

Carved Ivory Head of a Woman
A Congolese Cotton Shirt Embellished with a Portrait of Mobutu from the Collection of the Tropenmuseum in Amsterdam
A Closing

CODA: CROSSINGS 2000s

Because
Crossings

Notes
Acknowledgments
Bibliography

About the author

Danielle Legros Georges (1964-2025) was a Haitian-born professor emerita of creative writing at Lesley University. She served as poetry laureate of Boston from 2014 to 2019 and was the author and translator of several books of poetry. Her work has been supported by fellowships and grants from the American Antiquarian Society, the PEN/Heim Translation Fund, the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, the Massachusetts Cultural Council, the Boston Foundation, and the Black Metropolis Research Consortium.

Report

Impactful, breathtaking poetry . . . This important historical and personal collection does justice to the complex tapestry of Haitian emigrant legacies.
Booklist, Starred Review

A brilliant achievement. Danielle Legros Georges s Three Leaves, Three Roots makes a compelling case for the role of poet as custodian of what once was lost and now is found. In these times of voluntary and forced migrations, these poems are shining testaments and urgent exposés of historical injustice and tender lyrics. This collection places this poet where she belongs, in the front ranks of poets writing today.
Lorna Goodison, author of Mother Muse

As the poet moves us through landscapes lost, discovered, and found again, from Port-au-Prince, Kinshasa, to the banks of the Rio Grande, we discover voices displaced, exiled, and scorned, with love for their shared African roots even as these move from one geography to another. Sweeping in its breadth and historical coverage, Three Leaves, Three Roots is a triumph of poetic quietude in the midst of the chaos that surrounds depictions of Haiti today.
Myriam J. A. Chancy, author of What Storm, What Thunder

Three Leaves, Three Roots is a captivating collection of poems that vividly portrays the journeys of Haitian professionals, including Danielle Legros Georges s parents, who traveled to the Congo in the 1960s to support the decolonization movement. Through beautiful and captivating language, Georges intertwines personal narratives and letters, crafting a compelling testimony to a pivotal yet often overlooked moment in history. This profound exploration of migration and solidarity pays tribute to the lives of those we encounter within its pages while illuminating Haiti s potential as a symbol of global liberty.
Edwidge Danticat, author of Brother, I m Dying

Crafted in a poetic gift full of compassion, Three Leaves, Three Roots should be seen as a welcome addition to the axis being formed in this, our time of resurrection and change like none other. Georges s work is an elegant brilliance, nurtured in silent meditations on courage in a life lived deep inside the heart of Blackness.
Afaa M. Weaver, author of A Fire in the Hills

As the poet tells us in her introduction, Three Leaves, Three Roots is an act of reclaiming the little known story of Haitians, including her parents, who traveled to the Congo in the 1960s to work and live. Legros Georges s opus is impressive in its scope, and one can sense the research undergirding every word. But make no mistake: this is a poet s reckoning with history. Legros Georges s language is chiseled and sonically rich, her poetics potent and dazzling. In epistolary poems and dramatic monologues drawn from interviews and other source materials, she delivers a powerful melding of personal and public testimony. Three Leaves, Three Roots is a searing work of documentary and lyric poetry.
Shara McCallum, author of No Ruined Stone

Product details

• Authors: Danielle Legros Georges
• Publisher: BEACON PRESS
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 14.01.2025
• EAN: 9780807020487
• ISBN: 978-0-8070-2048-7
• No. of pages: 144
• Dimensions: 140 mm x 215 mm x 10 mm
• Series: Raised Voices
• Subject: Fiction > Poetry, drama