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.

Morning Haiku

Literature & Fiction

Sanchez, Sonia

History & Criticism

Beacon Press

Collected Poems

Winner Gish Prize for Lifetime Achievement A representative collection of the life work of the much-honored poet and a founder of the Black Arts movement, spanning the 4 decades of her literary career. Gathering highlights from all of Sonia Sanchez's poetry, this compilation is sure to inspire love and community engagement among her legions of fans. Beginning with her earliest work, including poems from her first volume, Homecoming (1969), through to 2019, the poet has collected her favorite work in all forms of verse, from Haiku to excerpts from book-length narratives. Her lifelong dedication to the causes of Black liberation, social equality, and women's rights is evident throughout, as is her special attention to youth in poems addressed to children and young adults. As Maya Angelou so aptly put it- "Sonia Sanchez is a lion in literature's forest. When she writes she roars, and when she sleeps other creatures walk gingerly."

Genre Fiction

Winner of the American Book Award A classic of the Black Arts Movement brought back to life in a refreshed edition "A lion in literature's forest. When she writes she roars, and when she sleeps other creatures walk gingerly."-- Maya Angelou Originally published in 1984, this collection of prose, prose poems and lyric verses is as fresh and radical today as it was then. Sonia Sanchez, the premiere poet of the Black Arts Movement, shows the "razor blades" in clenched in her teeth in these powerful pieces.

Homegirls & Handgrenades (Celebrating Black Women Writers)

Winner Gish Prize for Lifetime Achievement A representative collection of the life work of the much-honored poet and a founder of the Black Arts movement, spanning the 4 decades of her literary career. Gathering highlights from all of Sonia Sanchez's poetry, this compilation is sure to inspire love and community engagement among her legions of fans. Beginning with her earliest work, including poems from her first volume, Homecoming (1969), through to 2019, the poet has collected her favorite work in all forms of verse, from Haiku to excerpts from book-length narratives. Her lifelong dedication to the causes of Black liberation, social equality, and women's rights is evident throughout, as is her special attention to youth in poems addressed to children and young adults. As Maya Angelou so aptly put it: "Sonia Sanchez is a lion in literature's forest. When she writes she roars, and when she sleeps other creatures walk gingerly."

Exploring the pain, self-doubt, and anger that appear in women's lives, a renowned poet demonstrates her mastery of haiku, narrative poetry, and African-American lyricism, transforming betrayal and heartbreak into emotional redemption, compassion, and self-fulfillment.

Wounded in House of a Friend

Poetry

Beacon Pr

An exploration of the pain, self-doubt, and anger that emerge in women's lives, from a leading writer of the Black Arts Movement and the American Poetry Society's 2018 Wallace Stevens Award–winner. Renowned African-American poet Sonia Sanchez writes of an unfaithful life partner, a brutal rape, the murder of a woman by her granddaughter, the ravages of drugs. Sanchez transforms the unspoken and sometimes violent betrayals of our lives into a liberating vision of connection in emotional redemption, compassion, and self-fulfillment.

Wounded in the House of a Friend (Bluestreak)

Poems evoke the Black experience of living in modern America

Does Your House Have Lions?

From the American Poetry Society's 2018 Wallace Stevens Award–winner, this is an epic poem on kin estranged, the death of a brother from AIDS, and the possibility of reconciliation and love in the face of loss.

Does Your House Have Lions ?

An erotic collection of love poems explores the many qualities of love, paints a portrait of the intensity of passion, and contains three sections, including Naked in the Streets, Shake Loose My Skin, and In This Wet Season.

LIKE THE SINGING COMING OFF THE DRUMS

A dazzling exploration of the intimate and public landscapes of passion from the American Poetry Society's 2018 Wallace Stevens Award–winner. In haiku, tanka, and sensual blues, Sonia Sanchez writes of the many forms love takes: burning, dreamy, disappointed, vulnerable. With words that revel and reveal, she shares love's painful beauty.

Like the Singing Coming off the Drums: Love Poems (Bluestreak)

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Sanchez, Sonia. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Sanchez, Sonia

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Sanchez, Sonia. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Morning Haiku

Collected Poems

Homegirls & Handgrenades (Celebrating Black Women Writers)

Collected Poems

Wounded in House of a Friend

Wounded in the House of a Friend (Bluestreak)

Does Your House Have Lions?

Does Your House Have Lions ?

LIKE THE SINGING COMING OFF THE DRUMS

Like the Singing Coming off the Drums: Love Poems (Bluestreak)