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[Music intro]
LYNNE THOMPSON: Hello! My name is Lynne Thompson, Poet Laureate for the City of Los Angeles and I’m so happy to welcome listeners to this installment of Poems on Air, a podcast supported by the Los Angeles Public Library. Every week, I’ll present the work of poets I admire, poets who you should know, and poets who have made a substantial and inimitable contribution to the art and craft of poetry.
LYNNE THOMPSON: Sonia Sanchez, lovingly referred to by many as “Mama Sonia”, was a leading figure in the Black Arts Movement of the 60s and was the Laura Carnell Chair in English at Temple University until her retirement in 1999. The recipient of multiple awards including the Pennsylvania Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Humanities and a National Endowment for the Arts Award, among others, she received the Gish Lifetime Achievement Honor in 2021 and the Jackson Poetry Prize in 2022. Never overawed by laurels, Sanchez, age 87, says “there’s still work to do”.
LYNNE THOMPSON: Today’s poem is Ballad (after the spanish) by Sonia Sanchez.
Ballad
(after the spanish)
forgive me if I laugh you are so sure of love you are so young and i too old to learn of love the rain exploding in the air is love the grass excreting her green wax is love and stones remembering past steps is love, but you. You are too young for love and i too old. Once. What does it matter When or who, I knew of love. i fixed my body under his and went to sleep in love all trace of me was wiped away forgive me if i smile Young heiress of a naked dream You are so young and i too old to learn of love.
LYNNE THOMPSON: The Los Angeles Poet Laureate was created as a joint program between the City’s Department of Cultural Affairs and the Los Angeles Public Library and this podcast is available wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks for listening!
[Music outro]
- Back to Poems on Air: Episode 70
DISCLAIMER: This is NOT a certified or verbatim transcript, but rather represents only the context of the class or meeting, subject to the inherent limitations of real-time captioning. The primary focus of real-time captioning is general communication access and as such this document is not suitable, acceptable, nor is it intended for use in any type of legal proceeding. Transcript provided by the author.