I heard him crow… up close and loud. I was sitting in the cool morning in the courtyard here, typing. I usually leave the door to my quarters open to let out the hot air, and the old-guy smells accumulated overnight. There’s a point each morning when the sun overcomes the morning cool an[...]
Posts Tagged ‘Commentary by Michael Hood’
December 28th, 2016 - 8:19 am § in Misc.
The Chicken Returns
December 26th, 2016 - 10:15 am § in Misc.
Michael Hood A real Haitian Christmas feast
I was surprised one day as I sat in the courtyard, moping over my text, to see my friend Juana come tentatively into the yard bearing a little covered stainless pot, the kind you might see on a hospital tray. Juana was my cook last year and though she spoke zero English, and I no […][...]
December 23rd, 2016 - 10:03 am § in Misc.
Michael Hood: Christmas Chickens
Michael Hood 13 mins · Les Cayes, Haiti · Ah, but the chickens! As per every rural, and most urban Haitian yards, chickens have the free run at this nice hotel deep in the brousse on this off-the-path, Haitian island. The chicken folks occasionally surround me as I sit writing each morning in[...]
December 14th, 2016 - 9:20 am § in Misc.
DNA Test Never Got Done
Michael Hood Pipi plopped it down on the table in front of me; envelopes torn, three swabs were dirty and loose in the little plastic box; the others still one of the torn envelopes. The DNA was obviously contaminated, the test, compromised. The black cloud gathering since I’d discovered the t[...]
December 13th, 2016 - 6:48 am § in Misc.
Michael Hood: Where did the DNA go?
Michael Hood It felt glorious, the culmination of months of imagined scenarios, and dreams of successes and failures. It had been an unmitigated success. I rode in the no. 3 position on the motorcycle as we sped back through the late afternoon sun and long shadows, over ruts and rivulets, leaning fo[...]
December 12th, 2016 - 9:16 am § in Misc.
Who is the Papa?
Michael Hood Yes! I met the doctor, finally, in his clinic and we struck a deal. We will moto out to Dani’s house at 3p and take the cheek swabs. Me and Baby Chuck will do 3 each. The swabs will be wrapped and sealed in a pre-addressed envelope not to be opened until it […][...]
December 12th, 2016 - 1:56 am § in Misc.
Hood in Haiti
Michael Hood Another day, dear readers, in this land so vitally foreign to my home sweet home, the the slushy wonder that is Seattle. I extricate myself yearly because of the dark and rain, to escape Christmas, and because I have this wandering foot, that’s afflicted me all my life. I have f[...]
March 1st, 2016 - 8:31 am § in Misc.
Michael Hood: Returning to Seattle
Michael Hood at Hotel Oloffson.· Port-au-Prince, Haiti · Dear Facebook friends and others: I’m sitting in the dear old, peculiar yet decrepit Oloffson in Port Au Prince having had real breakfast. This has been a hang place for writers, local media, and other international types since Graham [...]
THE Place to stay in Haiti
Michael Hood Les Cayes, Haiti · And so, 2017 begins pinkly from where I sit under a Caribbean sky lighting up the bougainvillea and the eastern sides of the rattling palms. I didn’t last until the ball dropped, instead toddled off, fainted sometime around 10 in order to get up with the chick[...]