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readingwhileblack's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
lsparrow's review against another edition
5.0
I love these poems more each time I read them. I just want to read them out loud, send them to my lovers and paint them on protest signs.
katiemonty's review against another edition
some favorites:
SONG
“i cannot stay home on this sweet morning i must run singing laughing through the streets of Philadelphia. i don’t need food or sleep or drink on this wild scented day i am bathing in the waves of your breath.”
TANKA
“i don’t know the rules anymore i don’t know if you say this or not. i wake up in the nite tasting you on my breath.”
TANKA
“i thought about you the pain of not having you cruising my bones. no morning saliva smiles this frantic fugue about no you.”
angelreadsthings's review against another edition
3.0
3 1/2 Stars. I will forever be impressed by Sanchez's ability to put so much emotion and power into such short verse. While there were some shining moments in her longer poems in this collection, I found the most emotional resonance and beauty in her haikus and other short forms.
hsienhsien27's review against another edition
5.0
Borrowed from the Library
When I discovered Sonia Sanchez in the library I was really excited and this was the first one I wanted to read. But my break between classes is only an hour and a half long, so I decided to choose Does Your House Have Lions? because it’s shorter. But then after getting familiar with her style, I picked this one up. I enjoyed this one more than Does Your House Have Lions?, it’s less abstract and more lighthearted. It’s a self-healing type of a book, an ode to Black women and our culture. They are love songs, obviously. And because haiku and tanka are written with a certain amount of syllables, there is a very subtle rhythm and beat to it. And to be honest, I don’t really know how to read haiku or tanka, so maybe I should find a video of her readings. And I have to say, that I really like Sonia Sanchez, I can’t explain it, but I’m not a huge fan of a East Asian poetry forms, but she does it right. Every single person that writes haiku or tanka these days are pretentious White hipsters who write shallow love songs seasoned with cigarette smoke, coffee, and The Smiths. Of course, I’m not generalizing every one of them, this is just what I’ve seen so far in my life span. Sanchez isn’t like that, instead she has the soul. And it sure does come off strong with a powerful rhythm in this 144 page song.
P.S. I’m not bashing The Smiths, I actually kind of like them, despite Morrissey being a racist tea bag.
Rating: 5/5
Originally posted on Notes on the Shore
When I discovered Sonia Sanchez in the library I was really excited and this was the first one I wanted to read. But my break between classes is only an hour and a half long, so I decided to choose Does Your House Have Lions? because it’s shorter. But then after getting familiar with her style, I picked this one up. I enjoyed this one more than Does Your House Have Lions?, it’s less abstract and more lighthearted. It’s a self-healing type of a book, an ode to Black women and our culture. They are love songs, obviously. And because haiku and tanka are written with a certain amount of syllables, there is a very subtle rhythm and beat to it. And to be honest, I don’t really know how to read haiku or tanka, so maybe I should find a video of her readings. And I have to say, that I really like Sonia Sanchez, I can’t explain it, but I’m not a huge fan of a East Asian poetry forms, but she does it right. Every single person that writes haiku or tanka these days are pretentious White hipsters who write shallow love songs seasoned with cigarette smoke, coffee, and The Smiths. Of course, I’m not generalizing every one of them, this is just what I’ve seen so far in my life span. Sanchez isn’t like that, instead she has the soul. And it sure does come off strong with a powerful rhythm in this 144 page song.
P.S. I’m not bashing The Smiths, I actually kind of like them, despite Morrissey being a racist tea bag.
Rating: 5/5
Originally posted on Notes on the Shore
lamp_luvrrr's review against another edition
5.0
loved reading all the varying forms of literture sanchez used!!
especially blues haiku; it felt refreshing to read
^ seemed like "modern" breaks in between the lyrical art that sanchez created.
ALSO THE POEMS THAT WERE DEDICATED TO HISTORICAL FIGURES WERE BRILLIANT. <3
especially blues haiku; it felt refreshing to read
^ seemed like "modern" breaks in between the lyrical art that sanchez created.
ALSO THE POEMS THAT WERE DEDICATED TO HISTORICAL FIGURES WERE BRILLIANT. <3
dawncasters's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
5.0