Personal Letter No. 3

- Sonia Sanchez

nothing will keep
us young you know
not young men or
women who spin
their youth on
cool playing sounds.
we are what we
are what we never
think we are.
no more wild geo
graphies of the
flesh. echoes. that
we move in tune
to slower smells.
it is a hard thing
to admit that
sometimes after midnight
i am tired
of it all.

from: I've Been a Woman: New and Selected Poems, Copyright 1985.

BOOK REVIEWS. Sort Of.

Morning Haiku - Sonia Sanchez  

I really enjoy discovering new to me poets and I love haiku, so for me this book was an exacta.

Ms Sanchez offers haiku in many different styles, as tributes and celebrations, and occasionally her words stopped me cold.

          Why do some days wear the
          clothing of a beggar?

Narrow Road to the Deep North and Other Travel Sketches - Matsuo Basho   

Basho is a perennial favorite of mine. I've been reading his haiku for years but only just recently began reading the travel Sketches. Even through uneven translations, his mastery of language shines.

I was stunned though when I read of his encounter with an abandoned three year old child. He sympathizes with the child's undeserved suffering, bemoans that it was caused by "the irresistible will of heaven," then says that he must pass on and leave the child behind. He gave the child what little food he had, then left.

I need some time to process. Talk amongst yourselves.

Ballad

    by Sonia Sanchez

forgive me if i laugh 
you are so sure of love 
you are so young 
and i too old to learn of love.

the rain exploding 
in the air is love 
the grass excreting her 
green wax is love 
and stones remembering 
past steps is love, 
but you. you are too young 
for love 
and i too old.

once. what does it matter 
when or who, i knew 
of love. 
i fixed my body 
under his and went 
to sleep in love 
all trace of me 
was wiped away

forgive me if i smile 
young heiress of a naked dream 
you are so young 
and i too old to learn of love.

from: Homegirls & Handgrenades. Copyright 2007.