****Poems of commemoration and loss for readers of all ages, from a
leading writer of the Black Arts Movement and the American Poetry
Society's 2018 Wallace Stevens Award-winner.
Sonia Sanchez's collection of haiku celebrates the gifts of life and
mourns the deaths of revered African American figures in the worlds of
music, literature, art, and activism. In her verses, we hear the sounds
of Max Roach exploding in the universe, the blue hallelujahs of the
Philadelphia Murals, and the voice of Odetta thundering out of the
earth. Sanchez sings the praises of contemporaries whose poetic alchemy
turns words into gems: Maya Angelou, Richard Long, and Toni Morrison.
And she pays homage to peace workers and civil rights activists from
Rosa Parks and Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm to Brother Damu, founder
of the National Black Environmental Justice Network. Often arranged in
strings of twelve or more, the haiku flow one into the other in a steady
song of commemoration. Sometimes deceptively simple, her lyrics hold a
very powerful load of emotion and meaning.
There are intimate verses here for family and friends, verses of
profound loss and silence, of courage and resilience. Sanchez is
innovative, composing haiku in new forms, including a section of moving
two-line poems that reflect on the long wake of 9/11. In a brief and
personal opening essay, the poet explains her deep appreciation for
haiku as an art form. With its touching portraits and by turns uplifting
and heartbreaking lyrics, Morning Haiku contains some of Sanchez's
freshest, most poignant work.
