- Maker: Tatyana Booz
- Genre: Poetry Reading
- Level: Graduate
- Program: Composition, Rhetoric, and Digital Media
- Course: WRIT 5340: Multimodality & Digital Media
- Instructor: Dr. Eric Mason
- Semester Created: Winter 2021
Description:
This audio recording is a reading from an original poem written by Tatyana Booz called “Haitian Honey (Ayiti Cherie).” I wrote the poem to reflect on how proud I am to be a Haitian woman in America. The poem is an ode to Haiti because without learning my cultural roots, I would not embrace all of the identities that make me who I am today. Being a black woman in America is a battle within itself, but it adds a foreign culture to the mix, and reality shifts slightly.
Reflection:
This project challenged me to get out of my comfort zone and record something that I wrote for myself. The audio is the first time that I have ever heard myself actually recite a poem. On occasion, I will write my poems for myself and let them live and die on paper. It is interesting to see my poetry come alive using another medium other than pen and paper. The challenge for me while assembling this project was multilayering the tracks in Adobe Audition. It became tedious when I had to make sure that my voice was clear enough while the background music played. In terms of the background music, I chose a track that embodies the culture of Haiti. Therefore, I used a “zouk” instrumental. Zouk is a form of music that Haitians listen to aside from Konpa. Overall, the goal is to capture the listener and make them feel as if they get a glimpse into the culture that I hold near and dear to my heart. Interestingly enough, this project gave me the push to be vulnerable and share my art with the world via audio.
