Reader:  Amy Kaminski

Respondent:  Todd Wielichowski

Recorder:  Laura Moran

"Song No. 3"

Sonia Sanchez

Unsettling America, p. 111

Biographical Information:

Sonia Sanchez was born September 9, 1934, in Birmingham, Alabama.  She earned her B.A. in Political Science in 1955 and was a political activist in the sixties.  From 1975 to 1999, she was a member of the faculty at Temple University where she taught Black American Literature and Creative Writing.  She is best known for her angry poetry and deeply felt black pride and is a powerful spokeswoman for the special identity of black women.  Her summation of growing up black in the United States is, "Each one of us was the finished product of an American dream, nightmarish in concept and execution."

Literary Objectives:

Objective 2 -- "To observe representations and narratives (images and stories) of ethnicity and gender as a means of defining minority categories."

Objective 3A -- "The Dream," The African American alternative to "The

American Dream."

Objective 5A -- "To discover the power of poetry and fiction to help 'others' hear the minority voice and vicariously share the minority experience."

The Style Question:

Before I read the poem, I want to mention that the poet’s father was a drummer in a jazz band so that probably had an influence on her; the poem has the feel of jazz or the blues.

Interpretation:

First, in "Song No. 3," the narrator is pessimistic about her life, up until the last two lines.  But in last week’s poem, "Hanging Fire," on page 297, the narrator says, "Nobody even stops to think / about my side of it" and believes she deserves the things she doesn't have. Also, the first two lines of each stanza have slang in them, but the last line or two do not.  For example, "but i see how you stare when nobody's watching you" and "and my clothes have holes that run right through to you." That reminds me that not only is she an African American minority, but also in a lower class, though she only mentions that once.  The lines make it sound as if being in a lower class does not matter as much as being "ugly," which she mentions in the first and last stanzas.As indicated by Vicki Issac in the presentation in the fall of 2000 and last week for the poem "Blonde White Woman,"  "The beauty ideals of America's dominant culture do not include those of women of color."

Questions:

First, what is the meaning of the contrast between the first two lines to the last two lines:  "cain't nobody tell me any different / i'm ugly and you know it too" and "but, one day i hope somebody will stop me and say / looka here, a pretty little black girl lookin' just like me"?

Second, how is this poem about "The Dream"?

Finally, what is the meaning of the title, "Song No. 3"?

Works Cited:

http://voices.cla.umn.edu/authors/SoniaSanchez.html

http://www.unix-ag.uni-kl.de/~moritz/daten/artikel/sonsanchez.art

Discussion:

1. What is the meaning in the contrast of lines?

Dr. White – What she despairs of is what she hopes for.

Todd - She doesn’t have any guidance or role models at first.  Then, one day she hopes to; maybe things will get better.

(girl1) – She’s only a black girl, then a pretty black girl.

Adelaide – The poem goes with jazz, a jump rope beat, then “but one day…” is solemn.

Dr. White – Jump rope may mean being delivered.

 

2. How is the poem about “The Dream?”

Dr. White – “One day…”

 

3. What is the meaning of the title?

(front row) – it is comparative to a songbook, to the tune of a little song.

Jerry – Heinz 57.   /   excerpt from Under a Soprano Sky.

(girl2) – [asked about poet’s name]

Dr. White – She married a Sanchez; Sanchez is not her maiden name.

(girl3) – Blues are synonymous with sappy, rhyming songs; they spell out your emotions.