Sonia Sanchez and the Art of Haiku

Sonia Sanchez wrote a series of haikus in her career. I’m drawn to this style of poetry for its concision and attention to concrete imagery. Generally, my poems read quite abstractly. I intend to leave room for the reader to interpret the meaning as they see fit, but that doesn’t always work in my favor. It’s tough for me to describe images (and be concise).

Sanchez created the “sonku,” a combination of her first name and the word “haiku.” During the Black Arts Movement, many poets wanted to challenge norms by twisting what was considered “traditional.” She delivers an expected 17 syllables in the poem I highlight, but the layout differs from the traditional haiku structure of three lines with a 5-7-5 syllable sequence. Sanchez opts for a 3-3-3-4-4 sequence instead:

Sonku

i hear the

sound of love

you unstring

like purple beads

over my breasts

It’s no longer or shorter than a haiku (in terms of syllables), but each line gets more weight because of the formatting. Sanchez also uses heavy enjambment (meaning, each line reads as incomplete or as a fragment rather than as a complete unit). The first line: “i hear the”, makes the reader wonder, what does she hear? Or “the” what? Because of the line break, the reader gets to the following line quicker: “sound of love.” It raises the question, what does love sound like?

The third line, “you unstring,” releases some tension. The word unstring typically has a negative connotation, but comes across as neutral when geared toward this “sound of love.” Sanchez’s speaker feels comfortable showing “weakness” or an “unraveling” in this person’s presence. Purple can symbolize royalty and power. It appears the person Sanchez speaks to has control over her. Sanchez arouses the senses: hearing, vision, and touch. By the final line, “over my breasts,” one can connect this to the beads or her heartbeat (“sound of love”).

Paying attention to patterns and subject matter is essential when imitating a writer. Sonia Sanchez writes a lot about love as a visceral reaction. I encourage you to write your own haiku, but experiment with the number of syllables you use in each line, like Sanchez. Take liberties, but write something that resonates with you and who you are as a writer. Focus on creating a concrete image so your reader can visualize your writing. Sanchez uses images and a limited syllable count to convey what love feels like in the tiniest space. By “breaking the rules” of traditional haiku, she restricts herself while simultaneously exercising her free will.

~Briana Hanks

Source:

Sonia Sanchez: Collected Poems, p. 312. (2021). Beacon Press.