Poetry Month: Song No.2
2:40
Steve Rowland
To all you young girls.
Broadcast: Apr 14 2005 on NPR Day to DaySeries: Poetry Month Subjects: Spoken Word, Literature, African American, Women
Profile: Sonia Sanchez's poem, "Song No. 2"
April 14, 2005 from Day to Day
NOAH ADAMS, host: Each week in April, to help celebrate National Poetry Month, we are bringing you a poem. And today, we hear a plea to all you young girls from Sonia Sanchez. Sonia Sanchez writes poetry, plays and children's fiction. She is also a professor of English at Temple University in Philadelphia, where she teaches black American literature and creative writing. Here is Sonia Sanchez reading her poem "Song No. 2."
Professor SONIA SANCHEZ (Temple University): "Song No. 2." (Reading) `One. I say all you young girls waiting to live. I say all you young girls taking your pill. I say all you sisters tired of standing still. I say all you sisters thinking you won't but you will. Don't let them kill you with their stare. Don't let them closet you with no air. Don't let them feed you sex piecemeal. Don't let them offer you any ordeal. I say step back, sisters. We are rising from the dead. I say step back, johnnies. We're dancing on our heads. I say step back, man. No more hanging by a thread. I say step back, world. Can't let it go all unsaid.
`Two. I say all you young girls molested at 10. I say all you young girls given up again and again. I say all you sisters hanging out in every den. And I say all you sisters needing your own oxygen. Don't let them trap you with their coke. Don't let them treat you like one fat joke. Don't let them bleed you till you're broke. Don't let them blind you in masculine smoke. I say step back, sisters. We're rising from the dead. I say step back, johnnies. We're dancing on our heads. I say step back, man. No more hanging by a thread. I say step back, world. Can't let it all go unsaid. I say step back, world. Can't let it all go unsaid.'
ADAMS: Sonia Sanchez reading her poem "Song No. 2." It was produced for radio by Steven Rowland and Joe Waters at member station WXPN in Philadelphia, with original music by Jamaaladeen Tacuma. Thanks also to our friends at hearingvoices.com.
DAY TO DAY continues. I'm Noah Adams.
