Lenelle Moise is an award-winning poet, playwright, essayist and internationally touring performance artist. She creates jazz-infused, hip-hop bred, politicized texts about identity, memory and magic. Her poems and essays are featured in several anthologies, including: Word Warriors: 35 Women Leaders in the Spoken Word Revolution and We Don't Need Another Wave: Dispatches from the Next Generation of Feminists. Her writing has also been published in the Utne Reader, Make/Shift, Left Turn, and numerous other magazines and journals. A current Huntington Theatre Company Playwriting Fellow, her plays include Expatriate, Merit and The Many Faces of Nia. She lives in Northampton, MA where she was the 2010-2012 Poet Laureate. Haiti Glass is her long-awaited first book.

• TABLE OF CONTENTS haiti glass mud mothers adaptation the children of immigrants we live up here gift a sea for how loudly remember noah where our protest sound quaking conversation because john doe is not a haitian name her remains no person life is another word mayday for the sore self portrait as a heel a pump of bony pelvis/ ode to michael jackson silence equals death madivinez malden, massachusetts seeing skinhead elephant mourning letter to my father (in english) pray desire anahata acknowledgments biography

Praise for Haiti Glass: "Haiti Glass is a magnificent collection of poetry and prose. Part mantra, part lamentation, part prayer, this incredible book puts us wholly in the presence of an extraordinary and brave talent, whose voice will linger in your heart and mind long after you read the last word of this book. "-Edwidge Danticat "Very powerful poetry and prose. The spoken word cadence to many of the poems works really well on the page. Moise takes up the complexities of Haitian culture, the immigrant experience, sexuality and gender, and bearing witness. Highly recommended."-Roxane Gay "With a bold, unblinking eye, Lenelle Moise shows us the tragic yet beautiful world in which we live and challenges us not to turn away, but to turn towards with hope, compassion, and love. With all my heart, I thank her for writing these poems."-Leslea Newman, author of October Mourning, A Song for Matthew Shepard "The year 2014 will be hard pressed to give us a more powerful debut poetry collection than Lenelle Moise's Haiti Glass... This is the rare book of poetry that makes one pause while reading, look up from the page, whistle low."--Courtney Gillette, Lambda Literary Review "Hard to believe then that this is [Moise's] first book, which captures her passionate live performance in a way one can linger a little longer and study a little more closely her precisely chosen words. Moise's poems range from memories of childhood growing up in Haiti and American, to stories from her homeland marked by the atrocities of abject poverty and environmental disaster. Moise's work is always self-reflective, political and personal navigating the hurdles faced by black and brown immigrants in a promised land full of gated privilege. Her verse investigates the underbelly of family and society looking starkly at sexuality, violence and hope as it confronts despair."-Grace Moon, Velvetpark

Lenelle Moise is an award-winning poet, playwright, essayist and internationally touring performance artist. She creates jazz-infused, hip-hop bred, politicized texts about identity, memory and magic. Her poems and essays are featured in several anthologies, including: Word Warriors: 35 Women Leaders in the Spoken Word Revolution and We Don't Need Another Wave: Dispatches from the Next Generation of Feminists. Her writing has also been published in the Utne Reader, Make/Shift, Left Turn, and numerous other magazines and journals. A current Huntington Theatre Company Playwriting Fellow, her plays include Expatriate, Merit and The Many Faces of Nia. She lives in Northampton, MA where she was the 2010-2012 Poet Laureate. Haiti Glass is her long-awaited first book.

• TABLE OF CONTENTS haiti glass mud mothers adaptation the children of immigrants we live up here gift a sea for how loudly remember noah where our protest sound quaking conversation because john doe is not a haitian name her remains no person life is another word mayday for the sore self portrait as a heel a pump of bony pelvis/ ode to michael jackson silence equals death madivinez malden, massachusetts seeing skinhead elephant mourning letter to my father (in english) pray desire anahata acknowledgments biography

Praise for Haiti Glass: "Haiti Glass is a magnificent collection of poetry and prose. Part mantra, part lamentation, part prayer, this incredible book puts us wholly in the presence of an extraordinary and brave talent, whose voice will linger in your heart and mind long after you read the last word of this book. "-Edwidge Danticat "Very powerful poetry and prose. The spoken word cadence to many of the poems works really well on the page. Moise takes up the complexities of Haitian culture, the immigrant experience, sexuality and gender, and bearing witness. Highly recommended."-Roxane Gay "With a bold, unblinking eye, Lenelle Moise shows us the tragic yet beautiful world in which we live and challenges us not to turn away, but to turn towards with hope, compassion, and love. With all my heart, I thank her for writing these poems."-Leslea Newman, author of October Mourning, A Song for Matthew Shepard "The year 2014 will be hard pressed to give us a more powerful debut poetry collection than Lenelle Moise's Haiti Glass... This is the rare book of poetry that makes one pause while reading, look up from the page, whistle low."--Courtney Gillette, Lambda Literary Review "Hard to believe then that this is [Moise's] first book, which captures her passionate live performance in a way one can linger a little longer and study a little more closely her precisely chosen words. Moise's poems range from memories of childhood growing up in Haiti and American, to stories from her homeland marked by the atrocities of abject poverty and environmental disaster. Moise's work is always self-reflective, political and personal navigating the hurdles faced by black and brown immigrants in a promised land full of gated privilege. Her verse investigates the underbelly of family and society looking starkly at sexuality, violence and hope as it confronts despair."-Grace Moon, Velvetpark

Lenelle Moise is an award-winning poet, playwright, essayist and internationally touring performance artist. She creates jazz-infused, hip-hop bred, politicized texts about identity, memory and magic. Her poems and essays are featured in several anthologies, including: Word Warriors: 35 Women Leaders in the Spoken Word Revolution and We Don't Need Another Wave: Dispatches from the Next Generation of Feminists. Her writing has also been published in the Utne Reader, Make/Shift, Left Turn, and numerous other magazines and journals. A current Huntington Theatre Company Playwriting Fellow, her plays include Expatriate, Merit and The Many Faces of Nia. She lives in Northampton, MA where she was the 2010-2012 Poet Laureate. Haiti Glass is her long-awaited first book.

• TABLE OF CONTENTS haiti glass mud mothers adaptation the children of immigrants we live up here gift a sea for how loudly remember noah where our protest sound quaking conversation because john doe is not a haitian name her remains no person life is another word mayday for the sore self portrait as a heel a pump of bony pelvis/ ode to michael jackson silence equals death madivinez malden, massachusetts seeing skinhead elephant mourning letter to my father (in english) pray desire anahata acknowledgments biography

Praise for Haiti Glass: "Haiti Glass is a magnificent collection of poetry and prose. Part mantra, part lamentation, part prayer, this incredible book puts us wholly in the presence of an extraordinary and brave talent, whose voice will linger in your heart and mind long after you read the last word of this book. "-Edwidge Danticat "Very powerful poetry and prose. The spoken word cadence to many of the poems works really well on the page. Moise takes up the complexities of Haitian culture, the immigrant experience, sexuality and gender, and bearing witness. Highly recommended."-Roxane Gay "With a bold, unblinking eye, Lenelle Moise shows us the tragic yet beautiful world in which we live and challenges us not to turn away, but to turn towards with hope, compassion, and love. With all my heart, I thank her for writing these poems."-Leslea Newman, author of October Mourning, A Song for Matthew Shepard "The year 2014 will be hard pressed to give us a more powerful debut poetry collection than Lenelle Moise's Haiti Glass... This is the rare book of poetry that makes one pause while reading, look up from the page, whistle low."--Courtney Gillette, Lambda Literary Review "Hard to believe then that this is [Moise's] first book, which captures her passionate live performance in a way one can linger a little longer and study a little more closely her precisely chosen words. Moise's poems range from memories of childhood growing up in Haiti and American, to stories from her homeland marked by the atrocities of abject poverty and environmental disaster. Moise's work is always self-reflective, political and personal navigating the hurdles faced by black and brown immigrants in a promised land full of gated privilege. Her verse investigates the underbelly of family and society looking starkly at sexuality, violence and hope as it confronts despair."-Grace Moon, Velvetpark