Distributed for CavanKerry Press
Beyond the Watershed
A hybrid collection that explores the dual nature of water as both a destructive and healing force, mirroring the experiences of Black women and girls.
A hybrid collection of poetry and photography, Beyond the Watershed explores the various experiences of a Haitian American daughter and her Haitian immigrant mother. Nadia Alexis crafts a moving portrayal of generational trauma, domestic violence, survival, and reclamation, using stunning imagery drawing from the body, spirit, nature, and cityscapes. Alexis traces journeys to break free–documenting pain, making space for light, becoming a reckoning, connecting with spirit, and writing oneself into new seasons of safe waters, healthy love, and transformation. This vital debut affirms that there's "nothing like the thirst / of Black girls who believe in their own dreams," even as they navigate nonlinear paths to healing. "Sometimes the clouds speak to me / & tell me to look beyond the burning," the daughter declares, as she charts her own path forward.
A hybrid collection of poetry and photography, Beyond the Watershed explores the various experiences of a Haitian American daughter and her Haitian immigrant mother. Nadia Alexis crafts a moving portrayal of generational trauma, domestic violence, survival, and reclamation, using stunning imagery drawing from the body, spirit, nature, and cityscapes. Alexis traces journeys to break free–documenting pain, making space for light, becoming a reckoning, connecting with spirit, and writing oneself into new seasons of safe waters, healthy love, and transformation. This vital debut affirms that there's "nothing like the thirst / of Black girls who believe in their own dreams," even as they navigate nonlinear paths to healing. "Sometimes the clouds speak to me / & tell me to look beyond the burning," the daughter declares, as she charts her own path forward.
Table of Contents
Watershed
Permission
From Haiti to New York
Portraits
Cassette-Letter ‘95
Ma Ritual
Prayer to Èzili Dantò I
Trails
Daddy Ritual
Cantaloupe
Definition
Lament
Prayer to Èzili Dantò II
Lessons
Browsing the Web While Ma is Dying
Granpapa
Self Portrait as a Father’s Daughter
Hopscotch
Scar
When the Hymen Didn’t Break
Prayer to Èzili Dantò III
How to Be Friends With a Sex Worker
I Don’t Own Any Watches
Daughterhood
Devoured
He Reasons
Language
Prayer to Èzili Dantò IV
Thalassophobia
How to Make Yourself Small
A Horse’s Arrival
Elegy for the Unborn
What Happens When You Hug Your Mother
Of Fable & Superstition
Prey
Prayer to Èzili Dantò V
Praise Song for Ma
Self Portrait at the Dominican Hair Salon
Aubade After the Storms
Dreams of Daddy
Suppose You Failed to Cover Your Mouth
& So Evil Spirits Flew Out of Your Body
Photographing Your Mother
Your Therapist Asks in What Ways Are You Like Your Father?
Prayer to Èzili Dantò VI
Knees
Nocturne
Cycle
Letter to My Friend Robert
Someday I’ll Love Nadia Alexis
Birdwoman
Acknowledgments
Permission
From Haiti to New York
Portraits
Cassette-Letter ‘95
Ma Ritual
Prayer to Èzili Dantò I
Trails
Daddy Ritual
Cantaloupe
Definition
Lament
Prayer to Èzili Dantò II
Lessons
Browsing the Web While Ma is Dying
Granpapa
Self Portrait as a Father’s Daughter
Hopscotch
Scar
When the Hymen Didn’t Break
Prayer to Èzili Dantò III
How to Be Friends With a Sex Worker
I Don’t Own Any Watches
Daughterhood
Devoured
He Reasons
Language
Prayer to Èzili Dantò IV
Thalassophobia
How to Make Yourself Small
A Horse’s Arrival
Elegy for the Unborn
What Happens When You Hug Your Mother
Of Fable & Superstition
Prey
Prayer to Èzili Dantò V
Praise Song for Ma
Self Portrait at the Dominican Hair Salon
Aubade After the Storms
Dreams of Daddy
Suppose You Failed to Cover Your Mouth
& So Evil Spirits Flew Out of Your Body
Photographing Your Mother
Your Therapist Asks in What Ways Are You Like Your Father?
Prayer to Èzili Dantò VI
Knees
Nocturne
Cycle
Letter to My Friend Robert
Someday I’ll Love Nadia Alexis
Birdwoman
Acknowledgments