Morning Haiku by Sonia Sanchez (2010)

A series of haiku sequences that are as passionate as any poetry written.

Poetry Review: Morning Haiku is not made of haiku in any traditional sense. They are not in the common  5/7/5 syllable count nor do they contain other conventional aspects of haiku such as a seasonal word or reference. Instead these are haiku as written by Sonia Sanchez, short imagist and impressionistic poems that are always powerful and transcendent. They employ metaphor and other poetic techniques rarely seen in haiku. Some would say these aren't haiku at all (and I can see that), but no one can deny that these inscribed moments are heartfelt and overflow with passion that touches the bone. I believe every word. Unique to this collection is that it's written in multiple haiku sequences, such as ten, 14, or 21 poem series. Almost all recognize and are dedicated to an African American (and one Latina) artist or leader of her time. Jazz artists such as Max Roach or Ray Brown, singers such as Odetta or Sarah Vaughan, writers such as Toni Morrison or Maya Angelou, painters, politicians, peace workers and more. What I especially appreciated is that although some of these touch dark lows in remembering those who have passed (Emmett Till), others celebrate the ecstatic joys, highs, and feelings of lives fully lived, and celebrating those who gave so much (Shirley Chisholm, Barbara Jordan). In Morning Haiku we get how Sonia Sanchez sees these folks, her vision, which may not match your own, but she shares sensation, rapture, and strength. For jazz drummer Man Roach she wrote "your hands/shimmering on the/legs of rain." For a friend she says, "You held us/with summer stained/smiles of hope." I don't know what a summer-stained smile is, but I get it. For blues and folk singer Odetta (one of the best sequences): "saluted our/ blood until we were/ no longer strangers." For jazz bassist Ray Brown: "hammering/ nails into the/ off ... beat." Other favorite suites of haiku were "haiku woman" and the concluding 9/11 poem. In her introductory "haikuography" Sanchez remembers that when she read her first Japanese haiku she "slid down onto the floor and cried and was changed. i had found me." Morning Haiku is Sonia Sanchez writing herself, her own Western, her own American, haiku. Straight from the hole in the soul, her recognitions of the world and the people in it.  [4★]