LIKE THE SINGING COMING OFF THE DRUMS [Hardcover]

Sonia Sanchez (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 3, 1998

In the movie "lovejones", in "Vibe" magazine, and on rapper D-Knowledge's CD, Sonia Sanchez's love poems have put into words the passions of a generation. Now comes a collection of new love poems from Sanchez, dedicated to such icons of our age as Tupac Shakur and Ella Fitzgerald, that takes readers from the most intimate landscapes of passion to its public celebration National ads & publicity. .

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Musically compelling, risky, original: yes. But the most salient characteristic of Sonia Sanchez's Like the Singing Coming Off the Drums is passion. There's enough erotic exuberance in these poems to make even Cupid blush, starting with the opening salvo: "you held me so close / we were like the singing coming off drums. / you made me squeeze muscles / lean back on the sound / of corpuscles sliding in blood. I heard my thighs singing." The intensity of Sanchez's love poetry can leave us breathless. Yet she is very much the public poet as well as the private one. Her collection includes tributes to such icons as Ella Fitzgerald, Tupac Amaru Shakur, Toni Cade Bambara, Cornel West, and Gwendolyn Brooks. Sanchez also produces a portrait of an HIV-positive woman, which builds to an affirmative crescendo:

...I ammmmmmmm
the universe knows that
I ammmmmmm
hiv positive but I ammm
still. woman. lover. mother.
sistah. artist. organizer. activist.
woman...

At her best, Sanchez bridges gender, age and race, speaking in the closest we can expect to a universal language. We read the poems in Like the Singing Coming Off the Drums and know exactly what she means. --Martha Silano --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

From Library Journal

This collection of privately and publicly addressed love poems is targeted, one would guess, at the Valentine's Day crowd. And, yes, these poems will fill the bill: one can imagine them being read in breathy sequence to an aroused and appreciative audience: "this is not a fire/ sale but I am in heat/ each time I see ya." Mostly adapted from Japanese forms like haiku and tanka, with a few longer poems addressed in homage to the late rapper Tupac Amaru Shakur, Cornel West, and others, they fail to showcase three of this poet's most potent strengths: economical storytelling; the ability to cut through to the heart of things with sharp-edged, nonsentimental descriptions of pain; and a concise and affecting use of rhyme. Occasionally, however, they do exhibit her gift for humor: "I wuz in Kansas/ dorothy and toto wuznt/ a jacuzzi, sky, you." While this selection may be a good gift choice for lovers who are not particularly interested in good verse, poetry lovers and librarians should check out some of Sanchez's earlier works, like the recently published Does Your House Have Lions? (LJ 4/15/97).?Ellen Kaufman, Dewey Ballantine Law Lib., New York
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 128 pages
• Publisher: Beacon Press (February 3, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 080706842X
• ISBN-13: 978-0807068427
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,371,173 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Sonia Sanchez--poet, activist, scholar--was the Laura Carnell Professor of English and Women's Studies at Temple University. She is the recipient of both the Robert Frost Medal for distinguished lifetime service to American poetry and the Langston Hughes Poetry Award. One of the most important writers of the Black Arts Movement, Sanchez is the author of sixteen books.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A love for all seasons..., April 2, 2000

By 

epiphany7 (NYC Metro) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Like the Singing Coming Off the Drums (Bluestreak) (Paperback)

Sonia Sanchez is truly a brilliant author. This book is filled with poems of love and passion, as shown to the audience by Ms. Sanchez's sharp-yet-subtle verbal attacks. Many of the poems are short (haiku), but she effectively packs all of her emotion into very few words. Perhaps the most impressive characteristic of this book, is that each and every one of her poems seems to have a very personal aspect, regardless of the reader's sex, age, race or sexual orientation. She breaks love down to the lowest common denominator, and offers it to her audience in a way that we can all understand and appreciate. In "Like The Singing Coming Off the Drums," Sonia calls out to the romantic in all of us.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For the Love of Poetry, March 26, 2000

By 

prettybird "prettybird" (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: LIKE THE SINGING COMING OFF THE DRUMS (Hardcover)

For a while I had stopped writing. I lost focus and inspiration. That time has passed now and this book..I picked up 2 days ago. This woman will delight you with words and Iam glad to have it in my collection. She writes of love with awe and want and hurt and all of those emotions that bring anyone to write about love. She has also introduced me again to the delight of haikus and tanka, making me realize how powerful they can be. Some may complain that the poems in this book are too short but if you want to read about love ..pure and truthful and raw then you will love the way Sanchez's words caress the page.

3.0 out of 5 stars A good collection, May 24, 2008

By 

Book Princess (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Like the Singing Coming Off the Drums (Bluestreak) (Paperback)

I enjoyed reading this book. I thought the poems evoked true passion, love, loss, and so much more.

Sanchez has a vivid imagination that truly breaths life into her poetry. She is a wonderful writer.