Friday, September 11, 2009

Sonia Sanchez: Belated Birthday Shout Out!


"... in order to be a true revolutionary, you must understand love. Love, sacrifice, and death."

i cry out for the
company of women de
liberate with blood




September 9, 1934
Poet, playwright, activist, educator, lecturer

To say I love Sanchez's work is an understatement. I own more poetry than any other genre and among my collections, I proudly count several volumes of Sanchez. I heard her speak a few times. On one occasion, among the things she said, the one that stood out was about poetry forms. She said,"[poetry] forms won't deform you." Her students were put through a pretty rigorous course of study. They were required to write in twelve different forms during the class. If you know anything about the craft, you know this is pretty challenging.

I am more reader than poet. Yes, at one time I passionately wanted to write and I have a few modest writing credits to my name. Sanchez is one of less than a handful of poets I looked to for guidance and inspiration. From her, I learned to pay close attention to sound and brevity.

Happy Birthday, Ms. Sanchez!
from like the singing coming off the drums. Beacon Press, bluestreak. 1998.

Poetry Friday is a weekly meme. This week is hosted by Elaine at Wild Rose Reader.

4 comments:

Jake Kirk@Teens Read and Write said...

I'm not a real poetry man but I can appreciate it. Happy Birthday!

Color Online said...

Hi Jake,

Welcome to Color Online. We don't have to complete get poetry to appreciate it. Glad you liked this.

Author Amok said...

I heard Sonia Sanchez read at the *first* Dodge Poetry Festival. I was 17. Have never forgotten it.

Marjorie said...

She sounds inspirational and full of passion - thank you for wishing her a Happy Birthday "out loud" - I will have to go and find some moreof her work...