Konbit

by Sony Ton-Aime

Poems that capture a transformative and visionary way of life in Haiti.

Konbit is a Haitian Creole word, a way of living, for which there is no direct translation in the English language. It captures the communal life in Haiti and is used for every event where neighbors are called upon to help each other. These poems revolve around the Bois-Caïman ceremony (the first konbit) when enslaved people in Saint-Domingue vowed to fight for their independence. The ceremony is both real and a stand-in for climate change. Like our society, everything around enslaved people in Saint-Domingue was created to uphold the status quo. Imagining an alternative would have been seen as futile. Yet, they did. This collection is an attempt to do the same, to imagine a future beyond colonialism, imperialism, and climate catastrophe. With poems influenced by and in conversation with Tyehimba Jess, Natasha Trethewey, Derek Walcott, Shara McCallum, and Adrian Matejka, Sony Ton-Aime aims to provide a new language to articulate our common past, present, and future.

Genres: Poetry

96 pages, Paperback

Published February 19, 2026

Reviews

[William Summay]

Better described as one epic poem! The momentum that Ton-Aime builds and instills in the reader is nothing short of magic. I spent so much of the book googling Haitian history that I never learned and wow. If you want to be immersed in the drama, history, and art of liberation as a calling, a Konbit, I cannot recommend this enough!

[RC Albright]

This is an excellent collection of poems. Content largely surrounds the Bois Caïman ceremony, a catalytic event of the Haitian Independence Revolution. Feels Homeric. Will be reading several times over.