Under a Soprano Sky Poem by Sonia Sanchez

Under a Soprano Sky

Rating: 4.9


once i lived on pillars in a green house
boarded by lilacs that rocked voices into weeds.
i bled an owl's blood
shredding the grass until i
rocked in a choir of worms.
obscene with hands, i wooed the world
with thumbs
while yo-yos hummed.
was it an unborn lacquer i peeled?
the woods, tall as waves, sang in mixed
tongues that loosened the scalp
and my bones wrapped in white dust
returned to echo in my thighs.

i hear a pulse wandering somewhere
on vague embankments.
O are my hands breathing? I cannot smell the nerves.
i saw the sun
ripening green stones for fields.
O have my eyes run down? i cannot taste my birth.

2.

now as i move, mouth quivering with silks
my skin runs soft with eyes.
descending into my legs, i follow obscure birds
purchasing orthopedic wings.
the air is late this summer.

i peel the spine and flood
the earth with adolescence.
O who will pump these breasts? I cannot waltz my tongue.

under a soprano sky, a woman sings,
lovely as chandeliers.

COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Susan Williams 20 January 2018

I find myself in mass agreement with Robert's comment below. Yet, oh, how I loved the artistry in lines like the poem's last two lines: under a soprano sky, a woman sings, lovely as chandeliers.

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Mahtab Bangalee 03 August 2019

ongues that loosened the scalp and my bones wrapped in white dust returned to echo in my thighs.../// great poetic expression

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Paul Brookes 20 January 2018

Beautiful but fractured. A difficult poem to engage with but I agree such artistry in many lines not a favourite poem.

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Bernard F. Asuncion 20 January 2018

Such a great write by Sonia Sanchez👍👍👍

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Dr Antony Theodore 01 May 2019

i hear a pulse wandering somewhere on vague embankments. O are my hands breathing? I cannot smell the nerves. again and again your poems attract me. tony

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Dr Antony Theodore 03 August 2020

i saw the sun ripening green stones for fields. O have my eyes run down? i cannot taste my birth. i cannot smell the nerves. what a fine writing. tony

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Sylvia Frances Chan 22 February 2020

5) We are now in 2020, when that occurred was many years ago. I am just all in silence. Such a great poetess and African American recognized poetess who had won so many excellent prizes. As a woman and a female poetess, I am proud and happy that women before me have gained these all. In her time that was true special. Due to Poem Hunter I can know all these. Thank you so much dear Poem Hunter and Team! Greatest support!

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Sylvia Frances Chan 22 February 2020

4) many honour- prizes: she was a recipient of 1993 Pew Fellowships in the Arts. In 2001, she was then at age 59, WOW! Sanchez was the recipient of the Robert Frost Medal for her poetry (one of the highest honours awarded to a nationally recognized poet) and has been influential to other African-American female poets, including Krista Franklin. This is greatest result Sonia Sanches ever could imagine.

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Sylvia Frances Chan 22 February 2020

3) Before I continue my review about the great poetess Sonia Sanchez (this combination of names sounds like a singer, a famous opera singer, beautiful alliteration) Her metaphors are exceptional, as I said, but I like them all, whatever their task may be, excellent metaphors, she ends with: under a soprano sky, a woman sings, lovely as chandeliers. A very romantic ending, sheer poetic and so lyrical.You are a true great poetess with so

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Sylvia Frances Chan 22 February 2020

2) CONGRATULATIONS being chosen by Poem Hunter as the Modern Poem Of The Day. Hooray! For the great poetess as well as her children who love her sensitive poems. God Bless You the family of Sonya Sanchez, best wishes from The Netherlands, Sylvia Frances Chan. At the moment the poems were submitted as the latest date was in 2016, tge great poetess is then 82 years old, now, I am sure she is still alive, she is 86.

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Sonia Sanchez

Sonia Sanchez

Birmingham, Alabama United States
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