Portals to the Past

In “Haiku and Tanka for Harriet Tubman,” Sonia Sanchez presents a series of vibrant fragments that urges the speaker and reader together “Imagine” and “Picture” moments in the life of Harriet Tubman. The poem is comprised of a string of haiku and tanka, ancient Japanese forms that here, through sequence and white space and silence, trace the shape of a life. Haiku and tanka are both known for their compression, vivid imagery, and juxtaposition. Each numbered haiku and tanka works like a window or portal into Tubman’s life, framing moments of intense emotion and courage; vivid and fantastic images; and kinetic energy and connection; all conjured through the repeated exhortations to “Picture” and “Imagine.”

Questions to consider, on your own in writing, or in discussion with others:

• Who are your (familial, social, political, artistic, community) ancestors? Whose labor and courage made your current existence possible?
• Why do you think Sanchez repeats the instructions “Imagine” and “Picture” so many times in the poem?
• Why is the poem composed of numbered haiku and tanka? What possibilities do these forms create for the poet? The reader?

Assignment:

Write a poem that imagines moments in the life of an ancestor. You can focus on a familial ancestor, or an ancestor in a social, political, artistic, or community lineage. Your poem should include at least five haiku and/or tanka, and you are invited to use the anaphora Sanchez uses (“Remember,” “Imagine”) or come up with an anaphora of your own. Try to write your poem over a day (or a few) and not in one sitting. After you finish composing all of the haiku/tanka, rearrange them into a sequence that is different from the order they were written.