Calazaza's Delicious Dereliction

In her polyphonic poems, Suzanne Dracius creates protagonists-usually calazazas, light-skinned mulatto women with red or blond hair-who fight like Amazons against racial and gender discrimination. Dracius-s voice is leaping and exalted, often sexually charged, and infused with allusions to Greek and Roman mythology. Nancy Naomi Carlson has translated Dracius-s Exquise d-liction m-sse, poems written in French yet including some Creole versions, and with Creole expressions sprinkled throughout. In French, this book was awarded the prestigious Prix F-ann, whose judges cited the poet-s richness of language, with varied linguistic registers.