Unbroken Nostalgia: Haitian Kreyòl Poetry in Cuba

by Hilario Batista Félix, Mariana F. Past (Translator)

Overview

Unbroken Nostalgia: Haitian Kreyòl Poetry in Cuba is an original English translation and scholarly edition of the collection Nostalji san pwen ni vigil: pwezi kreyòl nan peyi Kiba (2016) by Haitian Cuban poet, journalist, and language activist Hilario Batista Félix. Batista (1955- ) embodies and expresses Cuba’s cultural and linguistic diversity as a descendant of Haitian migrant workers to Eastern Cuba during the mid-twentieth century; his poems bridge regions usually separated by language—the Spanish and Creolophone/Francophone Caribbean—and vividly depict the distinct heritage of Haitian Cubans and their shared dreams and challenges. Grounded in oral storytelling traditions, Unbroken Nostalgia brings to light the collective memory and complicated hybridity of the Haitian community in Cuba and upholds Haitian Kreyòl as a language of resistance.

Batista’s collection depicts a transnational, imagined homeland serving as spiritual anchor for Haitians throughout the global diaspora. A scholarly introduction by translator and editor Mariana F. Past provides biographical information about the author, situates his work within the Caribbean socio-cultural context and Haitian diasporic literature, and addresses patterns of Haitian migration to Cuba. Batista’s original Kreyòl poems appear alongside original, facing-page English translations. Annotations clarify historical figures and events, geographical features, and Haitian cultural and religious practices. Unbroken Nostalgia helps to expand the corpus of diasporic Haitian literature and contributes to an emerging Caribbean counter-canon. 
 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9798895060230
Publisher:	Michigan Publishing Services
Publication date:	05/05/2026
Series:	Urgent Knowledges
Pages:	139
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 8.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Hilario Batista Félix is a Cuban Haitian poet, journalist, and linguistic activist who currently resides in Havana. Born in 1955 in Cuba’s Guantánamo province, he is a descendant of Haitian migrant workers who came to Eastern Cuba in the mid-twentieth century to harvest sugar cane. Batista studied education at the University of Havana and initially worked as a teacher; he now directs Radio Havana's daily programming in Haitian Kreyòl and is founder and president of Bannzil Kreyòl Kiba, a cultural organization dedicated to the study, preservation, and diffusion of ‘Creole’ languages. 

Mariana F. Past is professor of Spanish and contributing faculty to Latin American, Latinx, and Caribbean Studies at Dickinson College. She edited and co-translated (with Benjamin Hebblethwaite) Michel-Rolph Trouillot’s Stirring the Pot of Haitian History (Liverpool University Press, 2021) from Haitian Kreyòl to English; the book earned an honorable mention from the Modern Language Association in 2022 for the Lois Roth prize.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Dedication
Translator’s Note
Introduction
Poems
“Nostalji”                                           
“Nostalgia” 
 
“Yon ti nouvèl pou Ayiti”
“A Little Message for Haiti” 
 
“De Frè”                                             
“Two Brothers” 
 
“Pichon”                                             
“Pichón” 
 
“Pa rele m piti”                                  
“Don’t Call Me ‘Pití’” 
 
“Kompay Cubano”                             
“Compay Cubano” 
 
“Mwen ka bay lavi m pou tè sa”        
“I Could Give My Life for This Land” 
 
“De Frè m sa yo”                                
“These Two Siblings of Mine” 
 
“Se pa yon sekrè”                              
“It’s No Secret” 
 
“Vwazinay yo Vini Chita tande Non” 
“Neighbors, Come Listen” 
 
“Kalbas la kraze”                                
“The Gourd Broke” 
 
“Kanntè”                                            
“Kanntè” 
 
“Kavayon”                                          
“Kavayon”                                
 
“Kè m pa ka sipòte ankò”                  
“My Heart Can’t Bear It Anymore” 
 
“Pawòl”                                              
“Words” 
 
“Pran San Ou”                                    
“Settle Down” 
 
“Zonbi”                                               
“Zombie” 
 
“Maladi konn touye ayisyen tou”      
“Haitians Die from Illness Too” 
 
“Ayiti”                                                
“Haiti” 
 
“Yon rèv”                                           
“A Dream” 
 
“Mèt Dlo kite m pase”                        
“Mèt Dlo Let Me Go” 
 
“Natali ak Nadinn”                             
“Nathalie and Nadinne” 
 
“Kouman la vi a ye”                           
“The Way Life Is” 
 
“Veye Jaden”                                     
“Watching Over a Field” 
 
“Yon seri nèg”                                    
“A Group of Heroes” 
 
“Ti moun yo tande non”                    
“Listen, Children” 
 
“Yon ti rankont”                                 
“A Little Encounter” 
 
“Nouvèl anreta yo”                            
“Overdue News” 
 
“Kòk la”                                              
“The Rooster” 
 
“Konpè m”                                         
“Compadre” 
 
“Yon tanbou lakay gen pou sonnen” 
“A Drum in the House Has to Sound” 
 
“Pa bliye non m”                                
“Don’t Forget My Name”  Endnotes
Epilogue (by Nathalie Batista Puente)
Bibliography
For Further Reading
Downloadable Resources