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Like the Singing Coming off the Drums: Love Poems
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 burning, dreamy, disappointed, vulnerable. With words that revel and reveal, she shares love's painful beauty.
In haiku, tanka, and sensual blues, Sonia Sanchez writes of the many forms love burning, dreamy, disappointed, vulnerable. With words that revel and reveal, she shares love's painful beauty.
- GenresPoetryAfrican American
144 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1998
About the author
Sonia Sanchez
105 books457 followersSonia Sanchez was born Wilsonia Benita Driver on September 9, 1934, in Birmingham, Alabama. After her mother died in childbirth a year later, Sanchez lived with her paternal grandmother and other relatives for several years. In 1943, she moved to Harlem with her sister to live with their father and his third wife.
She earned a B.A. in political science from Hunter College in 1955. She also did postgraduate work at New York University and studied poetry with Louise Bogan. Sanchez formed a writers' workshop in Greenwich Village, attended by such poets as Amiri Baraka (LeRoi Jones), Haki R. Madhubuti (Don L. Lee), and Larry Neal. Along with Madhubuti, Nikki Giovanni, and Etheridge Knight, she formed the "Broadside Quartet" of young poets, introduced and promoted by Dudley Randall.
She earned a B.A. in political science from Hunter College in 1955. She also did postgraduate work at New York University and studied poetry with Louise Bogan. Sanchez formed a writers' workshop in Greenwich Village, attended by such poets as Amiri Baraka (LeRoi Jones), Haki R. Madhubuti (Don L. Lee), and Larry Neal. Along with Madhubuti, Nikki Giovanni, and Etheridge Knight, she formed the "Broadside Quartet" of young poets, introduced and promoted by Dudley Randall.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 50 reviews
October 19, 2015
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
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August 2, 2011Sonia Sanchez was, until a day or so ago, merely an unknown name in a giant roll call of poets unknown, but ever since I located this book on the shelf of my public library, I have not regretted meeting her.
Passionate, erotic, and delicately constructed, Sanchez's love poetry is the cream of the crop--right up there with Pablo Neruda's "Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair".
However, let us not link her to the dead or the living-- she is after all a poet.
Sanchez, who stands on her own truly, has a very powerful ability to say beautiful things concerning a violent and consuming sensuality in a precise, concise, and delicate way. This ability shines in her many haiku, scattered within the book's covers like the bread of Hansel and Grettle. For instance:
"come windless invader
i am a carnival of
stars a poem of blood."
Need there be any critic's utterings in concerns to this poem? It stands on its own, like all good poetry.
Yet, Sanzhez is not merely a haiku crafter. In the latter third of her book, she turns to elgies and remembrances and odes to the living; Sanchez's subject matter ranges from Tupac to Ella Fitzgerald to Cornel West. And every poem, filled with that understated womanly power that surely is in every cell of Sanchez.
The book is for reading, loving and enjoying. I now set it on the desolate oceans of the library shelves, hoping another sailor of the line, the word, the way discovers the quiet fire of Sanchez's soul.
Passionate, erotic, and delicately constructed, Sanchez's love poetry is the cream of the crop--right up there with Pablo Neruda's "Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair".
However, let us not link her to the dead or the living-- she is after all a poet.
Sanchez, who stands on her own truly, has a very powerful ability to say beautiful things concerning a violent and consuming sensuality in a precise, concise, and delicate way. This ability shines in her many haiku, scattered within the book's covers like the bread of Hansel and Grettle. For instance:
"come windless invader
i am a carnival of
stars a poem of blood."
Need there be any critic's utterings in concerns to this poem? It stands on its own, like all good poetry.
Yet, Sanzhez is not merely a haiku crafter. In the latter third of her book, she turns to elgies and remembrances and odes to the living; Sanchez's subject matter ranges from Tupac to Ella Fitzgerald to Cornel West. And every poem, filled with that understated womanly power that surely is in every cell of Sanchez.
The book is for reading, loving and enjoying. I now set it on the desolate oceans of the library shelves, hoping another sailor of the line, the word, the way discovers the quiet fire of Sanchez's soul.
Read
December 13, 2009I love Mama Sanchez and will follow her anywhere. She gives you assisgnments: Like can you not say one bad word about a person for a week, and if so call her...
October 26, 2014
Sonia Sanchez is always and forever close to my heart. I love this woman! Her poetry is everything to me. It electrifies my body and sings to my soul. These love poems and the various haikus, tanka, and sonku were lovely. I especially loved the last section, In This Wet Season, that has poems dedicated to the amazing Ella Fitzgerald, Tupac Shakur, Toni Cade Bambara, Cornel West, and Gwen Brooks. All of whom are amazing influential people in history.
Love love love Sonia Sanchez with my whole being and i'm slowly moving my way through her entire works.
Love love love Sonia Sanchez with my whole being and i'm slowly moving my way through her entire works.
December 30, 2013
One of my favorite poetry books of all time.
Discovered this eons ago, while probably still in high school (I'm in my early 30s now) and it really spoke to me.
The haikus are short, succinct, but really strike a nerve. Stay withy you all day long (or in my case, years-long).
There are so many that really tug at my heart center. My favorite: page 18. Tanka. "I thought about you. The pain of not having you cruising my bones. No morning saliva smiles. This frantic fugue about no you."
Gawt damn. I feel it in my bones everytime I read it.
Sonia was at a nearby college this summer, close to me, and I did not go to see her. Would love for her to autograph my copy of this book one day. She is so talented.
The words... never long, the poems...but they are so full and fleshy and...lovelorn. Beautiful.
Discovered this eons ago, while probably still in high school (I'm in my early 30s now) and it really spoke to me.
The haikus are short, succinct, but really strike a nerve. Stay withy you all day long (or in my case, years-long).
There are so many that really tug at my heart center. My favorite: page 18. Tanka. "I thought about you. The pain of not having you cruising my bones. No morning saliva smiles. This frantic fugue about no you."
Gawt damn. I feel it in my bones everytime I read it.
Sonia was at a nearby college this summer, close to me, and I did not go to see her. Would love for her to autograph my copy of this book one day. She is so talented.
The words... never long, the poems...but they are so full and fleshy and...lovelorn. Beautiful.
December 5, 2014
I thought this was going to be a sexy love poem book, not a bunch of corny haiku's about tongues and thighs and breaths. Putting breasts in your poem does not make it deep or romantic. The random poems at the end all dedicated to Tupac and Cornel West were so out of place in this collection. I should have left this at the library. So not for me.
October 10, 2015
Despite it's silvery title, the poetry of "Like The Singing Coming Off the Drums" - weighted heavily with Haiku and urbane tributes to the likes of Tupac Shakur and Ella Fitzgerald - simply fails to resonate with this reader.
June 3, 2008
The most sensual book of poetry I own.
July 23, 2011
This book is a ravishing piece of written art!
June 5, 2018
My favorite section was In This Wet Season. Sista Sonia never disappoints.
February 24, 2021
I loved reading this book— the haikus, the sonkus, the tonkas and the poems for Tupac Shakur, Toni Cade Bambara, Essex Hemphill, Cornel West and Ella Fitzgerald. A beautiful book of poems by our accomplished Sonia Sanchez.
Sonku
what is love
you asked
i took you
inside be
hind my eyes
and saw me.
Sonku
what is love
you asked
i took you
inside be
hind my eyes
and saw me.
August 14, 2021
A wealth of beautiful Haikus in this collection. I would love to hear Sonia Sanchez read them out loud in order to hear the music within the phrasing of her poems.
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December 30, 2019I must not "get" poetry. And I really have an intense dislike for haiku. Sonia Sanchez writes a lot of haiku here. And a lot of the descriptions of a woman's sexuality don't hold up with time. She published this work in 1998, and so the frequent description of her (or any woman's) sexuality with the abundance of wet, ocean, brine just seems rather mundane now in 2018.
Sadly, this collection has quite a few love poems dedicated to Bill and Camille. Yeah, the Cosby's:
but i am left with
flesh that hangs like yellow sails
hear my voice knocking.
Even if this haiku were beautiful, the sad irony associated with a love poem dedicated to a man who routinely betrayed his wife and violated so many other women gives this haiku a tragic element. Given the new frame in which Cosby's crimes place him, this haiku seems hauntingly prophetic rather than an emotive passion associated with marital love and fidelity.
Sadly, this collection has quite a few love poems dedicated to Bill and Camille. Yeah, the Cosby's:
but i am left with
flesh that hangs like yellow sails
hear my voice knocking.
Even if this haiku were beautiful, the sad irony associated with a love poem dedicated to a man who routinely betrayed his wife and violated so many other women gives this haiku a tragic element. Given the new frame in which Cosby's crimes place him, this haiku seems hauntingly prophetic rather than an emotive passion associated with marital love and fidelity.
December 1, 2015
I always feel bad that I don't enjoy poetry. It can be very soothing to read though but if someone asked me to choose I will always choose novels. This was the first book of poetry I read by this author and I read this in less than an hour. I downloaded it from overdrive and just played down to read. The first two sections I did not enjoy as a whole but the last section was my favorite. It was dedicated to different people and all the poems were just beautiful to me. I would love to own my own copy just to read that section again. I will definitely try to read more by this author. A lot of her work is on overdrive so after I get through these other book I can dedicate myself to it.
September 6, 2007
Gorgeous. What else can be said? Sonia Sanchez is one of my favorite poets and this book is no exception, her ability to use the fewest words possible to say so much continually blows me away. Her "Haiku (for you)" has to be one of my favorite love poems.
"Love between us is/speech and breath. loving you is/a long river running."
Plus she's a scholar, an activist and a lyrical genius. What's not to love?
"Love between us is/speech and breath. loving you is/a long river running."
Plus she's a scholar, an activist and a lyrical genius. What's not to love?
April 9, 2009
Most of the poems in this book are short and come in the forms of haikus and tankas. I have never been a huge fan of haikus; although I did enjoy some of hers, I preferred and enjoyed her longer song-like poems more because they pick up a greater amount of energy from one line to the next.
November 21, 2011
These are energetic love poems by the poet. Many are haikus although they do not necessarily follow the traditional haiku form. Goof fast reading with some originality. Worthwhile, but I probably won't read it again.
May 30, 2014
My favorite haiku in this collection -
what is done is done
what is not done is not done
let it go...like the wind.
The love poems are flowy, some heartwrenching, with just the right melancholy tone. My kind of poetry. :)
what is done is done
what is not done is not done
let it go...like the wind.
The love poems are flowy, some heartwrenching, with just the right melancholy tone. My kind of poetry. :)
August 25, 2015
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.
July 12, 2017
because sonia sanchez reminds us that the haiku is a poem. that there can be depth and love and promise in the haiku. if you're into longer pieces, shake loose my skin may be best for you but i thoroughly enjoyed this book.
April 15, 2018
This was my first time reading poetry since high school and has inspired me to get suggestions from friends and the library. Sanchez's voice is captivating and addicting--I reread many of the poems again and again. I particularly loved Love Conversation.
May 23, 2018
This is the first time I've ever read anything by the Author. While I can't say Ms. Sanchez was catapulted into my list of favorite poets after reading this collection, I defiantly appreciated her work and I'm look forward to reading more from her in the near future.
October 7, 2019
I'm still finding my footing when it comes to poetry. Many of the poems I loved dearly and many I could not understand at all. I definitely want to give this a reread as I become more familiar the intricacies of writing/reading poetry.
January 11, 2009
A good read for Valentine's Day!
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February 19, 2010This is a collection of love poems from this powerful Philadelphia poet/activist/scholar! There are poems in here dedicated to Tupac Shakur and Ella Fitzgerald.
March 10, 2013
Adored seeing her read from this.
May 21, 2018
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.
December 30, 2017
Love Auntie Sonia and her poetry 💚💚💚!!!
September 28, 2018
bite-sized poems for everybody
my favorite:
"what's wrong with being freaky on stage you a stone freak in yo own skin
at least we up front about this freakdom
at least we let it all hang out"
my favorite:
"what's wrong with being freaky on stage you a stone freak in yo own skin
at least we up front about this freakdom
at least we let it all hang out"
March 9, 2019
erotic, raw, sweet. will always return to this book.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 50 reviews