From a leading writer of the Black Arts Movement, poems of commemoration and loss for readers of all ages
A collection of haiku that celebrates the gifts of life and mourns the deaths of revered African American figures in the worlds of music, literature, art, and activism.
“Sonia Sanchez is a lion in literature’s forest. When she writes she roars, and when she sleeps other creatures walk gingerly.”–Maya Angelou
“Only a poet with an innocent heart can exorcise so much pain with so much beauty.”–Isabel Allende
“Sonia Sanchez is one of Philadelphia’s most celebrated poets and public figures. . . . She played an important role in the civil-rights and Black Arts movements and has read her poetry all over the world. That poetry is full of history, music, and song.” –John Timpane, Philadelphia Inquirer
“Sanchez is at her finest in Morning Haiku. . . . Through the collection, Sanchez gives thanks, praise and meditation to black artists.” –Tara Murtha, Philadelphia Weekly
“The poetry of Sonia Sanchez is full of power and yet always clean and uncluttered. It makes you wish you had thought those thoughts, felt those emotions, and, above all, expressed them so effortlessly and so well.”–Chinua Achebe
"Her songs of destruction and loss scrape the heart; her praise songs thunder and revitalize. We need these songs for our journey together into the next century."–Joy Harjo
“Sonia Sanchez’s poetry is a must for all readers. Period.”–Essence
“Sanchez’s haiku is as simple and clear as breathing, but with everything that brings energy and vivacity to being alive.”–Rain Taxi Review of Books
14 haiku (for Emmett Louis Till)
1. Your limbs buried in northern muscle carry their own heartbeat
2. Mississippi… alert with conjugated pain
3. young Chicago stutterer whistling more than flesh
4. your pores wild stars embracing southern eyes
5. foot prints blooming in the night remember your blood
6. in this southern classroom summer settles into winter
7. i hear your pulse swallowing neglected light
8. your limbs fly off the ground little birds…
9. we taste the blood ritual of southern hands
10. blue midnite breaths sailing on smiling tongues
11. say no words time is collapsing in the woods
12. a mother’s eyes remembering a cradle pray out loud
13. walking in Mississippi i hold the stars between my teeth
Sonia Sanchez is an award-winning poet, activist, scholar, and formerly the Laura Carnell Professor of English and Women's Studies at Temple University, and is currently a poet-in-residence there. She is the author of sixteen books, including Like the Singing Coming off the Drums, Does Your House Have Lions?, Wounded in the House of a Friend, Shake Loose My Skin, and Morning Haiku.View titles by Sonia Sanchez
From a leading writer of the Black Arts Movement, poems of commemoration and loss for readers of all ages
A collection of haiku that celebrates the gifts of life and mourns the deaths of revered African American figures in the worlds of music, literature, art, and activism.
“Sonia Sanchez is a lion in literature’s forest. When she writes she roars, and when she sleeps other creatures walk gingerly.”–Maya Angelou
“Only a poet with an innocent heart can exorcise so much pain with so much beauty.”–Isabel Allende
“Sonia Sanchez is one of Philadelphia’s most celebrated poets and public figures. . . . She played an important role in the civil-rights and Black Arts movements and has read her poetry all over the world. That poetry is full of history, music, and song.” –John Timpane, Philadelphia Inquirer
“Sanchez is at her finest in Morning Haiku. . . . Through the collection, Sanchez gives thanks, praise and meditation to black artists.” –Tara Murtha, Philadelphia Weekly
“The poetry of Sonia Sanchez is full of power and yet always clean and uncluttered. It makes you wish you had thought those thoughts, felt those emotions, and, above all, expressed them so effortlessly and so well.”–Chinua Achebe
"Her songs of destruction and loss scrape the heart; her praise songs thunder and revitalize. We need these songs for our journey together into the next century."–Joy Harjo
“Sonia Sanchez’s poetry is a must for all readers. Period.”–Essence
“Sanchez’s haiku is as simple and clear as breathing, but with everything that brings energy and vivacity to being alive.”–Rain Taxi Review of Books
Excerpt
14 haiku (for Emmett Louis Till)
1. Your limbs buried in northern muscle carry their own heartbeat
2. Mississippi… alert with conjugated pain
3. young Chicago stutterer whistling more than flesh
4. your pores wild stars embracing southern eyes
5. foot prints blooming in the night remember your blood
6. in this southern classroom summer settles into winter
7. i hear your pulse swallowing neglected light
8. your limbs fly off the ground little birds…
9. we taste the blood ritual of southern hands
10. blue midnite breaths sailing on smiling tongues
11. say no words time is collapsing in the woods
12. a mother’s eyes remembering a cradle pray out loud
13. walking in Mississippi i hold the stars between my teeth
Sonia Sanchez is an award-winning poet, activist, scholar, and formerly the Laura Carnell Professor of English and Women's Studies at Temple University, and is currently a poet-in-residence there. She is the author of sixteen books, including Like the Singing Coming off the Drums, Does Your House Have Lions?, Wounded in the House of a Friend, Shake Loose My Skin, and Morning Haiku.View titles by Sonia Sanchez
