The book is a memoir in prose and poetry about Jacques Fleury's journey out of Haiti, living in America and pursuing the American dream.
Sparks in the Dark (designed by Warbler Books) chronicles Jacques Fleury's (a.k.a The Haitian Firefly) journey out of Haiti, living in America, & realizing his American Dream: becoming a published writer. This revolutionary book is imbued with lush evocative language; an innovative mixture of great Spiritual and intellectual magnitude. A blend of prose and poetry that explores ideologies of abuse,oppression, dictatorship, and essentially dissension. The Boston Globe says "Jacques Fleury depicts his story with pathos and humor." Emmy winning former WGBH Television producer Lynette Laveau says "Fleury intrepidly and passionately weaves a tapestry of poems that keep the reader on a tight rope trajectory through his optimism, veracity and wonderment and emerges as philosopher and activist." Fleury is an autonomous imagination unlike any other. You will be taken on a fantastic journey of self discovery & acceptance. Sparks shows that out of misery, comes joy, beauty & essentially survival of the human spirit!
Excerpt
Things I Have Purposefully left Behind
I used to refuse to un-clench my fist to
reveal hand designed clouds that I used to keep as close to me as my worst enemy
in the sunny swallow of Haiti where oppression and depression exchanged
wedding rings among the anxious muffles of democracy tepid smiles of the young as they rapidly get older under tyrannical weather while mom and dad stood stupefied and uttered gems like "my have you grown..."
I often hid inside the alcoves and folds of my brain where "Baby-Doc" could NOT find me, where I could nurse my fear and dream of becoming a revolutionary, perpetually stroking a hungry lion that repeatedly promised
He will not eat me
even in the midst of famine
I went to bed with this lie
I believe it was this lie
that was wetting my bed
and so one day I came awake to realize
everything was a fake
and so today I celebrate
These things I have
purposefully left behind...
Honoring my new American capacity
Emerging from the seemingly interminable and intentional torch
that used to be my life.
Professional Reviews
Poetry Tryrant Doug Holder Reviews Jacques Fleury's Spark in the Dark
Jacques Fleury writes that he was born with a humongous head. He reflects: “When my mom was birthing me, I was told that she ran out of the hospital just as I was coming out of the darkness of her womb, valiantly striving to reach the light. So just as I was coming out she made a giant leap for ‘pain kind’ out of bed and bolted out of the door and caught a cab home.” Jacques Fleury To this day Fleury has a dramatic head both physically and metaphorically. He often adorns it with large hats and outrageous sunglasses that he wears in the dead-of-night. He is an exotic even in Cambridge’s teeming and diverse Central Square. And so is his writing. His poetry is not sedate and understated, but much like a lush, colorful, exotic plume; at times gaudy and blinding, and for the most part joyful in spite of the pain he has suffered in his 30- something years. Fleury was born in Haiti and is a working journalist, poet, columnist, and community TV host. His first full poetry collection: “Sparks in the Dark…” is large, ambitious, and covers a lot of ground. It’s hard being a Blackman, much less a Haitian Blackman in a white society. Fleury rages against this inequity in his poem: “Unrequited Rage:” “How dare you judge me/ my color does not define me/ you should be appalled for Dissing me! / unleash your dirty heart/ you will find me!... / I am only a mere man pregnant with error/ a walking Disaster!!!/ So use me like a mirror, / if you want to see the reflection of your Brother!!!/ And Fleury knows that the “womb makes the man,” and he urges mothers to treat their children well, or else it’s a short passage to a worldly hell, in his poem: “Women! Women From Your Wombs!” “Women! Women from your wombs/ you gonna yell to break the spell/ women! Women from your wombs/ you too one day/ face drooping dripping down in the dumps/ with creases like beaten down leather/ established breasts hardened, eager and perky/ like the buds of spring./ swollen like balloons since in your mouth men/ blow bubbles…/ since from your wombs babies are born/ bearing your sins/ and looked down as / fools for sucking in anger/and resentment seeping from/ your congested chests/ have come into this world/ entangled in your mess.” Fleury’s work is provocative and evocative, but at times it needs pruning, because it grows like wild jungle vegetation. Of course that might be the point. Doug Holder Ibbetson Street Press< Less
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