In his debut English language collection, Patrick Sylvain brings forth an excavation of historical significance. In this magnificent chapbook of poems, Sylvain takes the reader on a contemporary exploration of Caribbean & Haitian histories marred by man-made and natural disasters. From the undertow of the Atlantic Ocean to the rubbles of a catastrophic earthquake, each poem is a relic, bellowing "ancestral tongues" in an attempt to "un-scab the past." This is a book for all generations.
Sylvain is a poet, writer, social critic, and photographer. Published in several scholarly and creative anthologies, journals and reviews, including: African American Review, Agni, Allegro Poetry Magazine, American Poetry Review, Anchor Magazine, Callaloo, Caribbean Writers, Transition, The Savannah Review, Dirty Chai, Ploughshares, SX Salon, Vallum Contemporary Poetry, Haiti Noir, International Journal of Language and Literature, Human Architecture, The Oxford Book of Caribbean Verse. Sylvain was nominated for the Pushcart Prize in poetry. His academic essays are anthologized in several edited collections, including: "The Idea of Haiti: Rethinking Crisis and Development, " edited by Millery Polyn; "Politics and Power in Haiti," edited by Paul Sutton and Kate Quinn; and "Haiti Noir" edited by Edwidge Danticat. Sylvain received his B.A. from the University of Massachusetts, in Political Science and Social-Psychology, and earned his Ed.M. as a Conant Fellow from Harvard University Graduate School of Education; and was also a Robert Pinsky Global Fellow at Boston University Creative Writing Department where he earned his MFA. He has taught at several universities, including Brown (where is affiliated with Africana Studies), UMass/Boston (Anthropology) and Harvard (AAAS). Sylvain is pursuing a Ph.D. in English at Brandeis University where he is the Shirle Dorothy Robbins Creative Writing Prize Fellow.