Feu Du Ciel
Elders gather by the fire pit in grandmother’s back yard. Inside her home, a baby boy nurses
and snuggles in his mother’s arms. Twilight descends on the village. Crops fade into the
background. The elders sit in a circle and pass a river rock around. Each one has
a turn to speak.
Grandmother reminds the circle of men and women that when the child was born,
the sky was fiery red. They agree that it was an inspired moment and the child will be named,
“Feu du Ciel.” The parents join the group of elders with their baby boy wrapped in a blanket.
Grandmother takes the child in her arms. The baby fusses and cries out. She soothes his
forehead and rocks him. She says, “Your voice will light up our sky.”
and snuggles in his mother’s arms. Twilight descends on the village. Crops fade into the
background. The elders sit in a circle and pass a river rock around. Each one has
a turn to speak.
Grandmother reminds the circle of men and women that when the child was born,
the sky was fiery red. They agree that it was an inspired moment and the child will be named,
“Feu du Ciel.” The parents join the group of elders with their baby boy wrapped in a blanket.
Grandmother takes the child in her arms. The baby fusses and cries out. She soothes his
forehead and rocks him. She says, “Your voice will light up our sky.”
Jerrice J. Baptiste is a poet and author of eight books. She was the recipient of a residency from the Women’s Leadership Program at the Omega Institute in NY, 2019. She has been published in The Yale Review; Kosmos Journal; The Caribbean Writer; The Crucible; Breathe Free Press; Spadina Literary Review; Autism Parenting Magazine; The Lake Poetry Journal; So Spoke the Earth: Anthology of Women Writers of Haitian Descent and many others. She also facilitates creative writing workshops. Jerrice enjoys writing vignettes about the Caribbean which is where she grew up. Her poems and collaborative songwriting are on the Grammy award winning album, Many Hands: Family Music for Haiti. Jerrice is the host of Women of Note on WKZE in Red Hook, New York.
Art: Molly Dunham