it is midnight
no magical bewitching
hour for me
i know only that
i am here waiting
remembering that
once as a child
i walked two
miles in my sleep.
did i know
then where i
was going?
traveling. i'm
always traveling.
i want to tell
you about me
about nights on a
brown couch when
i wrapped my
bones in lint and
refused to move.
no one touches
me anymore.
father do not
send me out
among strangers.
you you black man
stretching scraping
the mold from your body
here is my hand.
i am not afraid
of the night.
______________________________________________________
Sonia Sanchez (1934-) has taken important roles in the fight for women's rights as well as the Black Arts Movement, just as other African American writers of the time had. Reflecting on and delving into her personal life through her writing has enabled her to speak for the people.
This poem, "poem at thirty, deviates from the style of writing of the time some. Bringing the tone and content to a more personal level, Sanchez reminisces about her life on the eve of her thirtieth birthday. At the beginning of the poem, she seems frustrated about all that she missed out on, looking back. The organization of the poem (the interrupted thoughts and the short sentences) help to reveal the frustration of the poet. She reflects on all that she has endured, and the tone becomes more prideful towards the end.
Though it does not exactly reflect the style of writing of the time, it does capture the struggles of an African American woman growing up, which fits thematically with poetry at the time.
Source: "No More Masks! An Anthology of Twentieth-Century American Women Poets" (1993), Florence Howe
This poem, "poem at thirty, deviates from the style of writing of the time some. Bringing the tone and content to a more personal level, Sanchez reminisces about her life on the eve of her thirtieth birthday. At the beginning of the poem, she seems frustrated about all that she missed out on, looking back. The organization of the poem (the interrupted thoughts and the short sentences) help to reveal the frustration of the poet. She reflects on all that she has endured, and the tone becomes more prideful towards the end.
Though it does not exactly reflect the style of writing of the time, it does capture the struggles of an African American woman growing up, which fits thematically with poetry at the time.
Source: "No More Masks! An Anthology of Twentieth-Century American Women Poets" (1993), Florence Howe
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