Loving Lucky Daye, missing open mic
Andrea “Vocab” Sanderson is wrapping up her first year as the city’s poet laureate, a post she was just stepping into when the city started shutting down because of the pandemic.
Sanderson has made it a point to be as visible as possible over the past year, including posting writing prompts to social media both to help people of all ages find a way to deal with the stress of this time and to help them get in touch with their creative selves. She also wrote the text for a street mural painted around Travis Park as part of Centro San Antonio’s Art Everywhere initiative, and she created a poetry postcard project with the San Antonio Museum of Art to help people express themselves during the Black
Lives Matter protests.
Sanderson has time to do a lot more: Her run as poet laureate goes through 2023.
Her upcoming projects include taking part in “March Mavens,” a 12hour livestream by Southern Fried Poetry spotlighting female poets from the South that will post from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday on Facebook. She also will be among the writers featured in Urban-15’s “Mega Corazón 2021,” its annual celebration of National Poetry Month. The group will post livestream poetry marathons on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays in April at urban15.org/ live-stream.
Pop culture also maintains a hold on her, especially Marvel and other superhero movies. She collects Funko Pop figures — she’s got Nakia from “Black Panther,” Baby Yoda, Prince and
Rick James, among others. And she happens to make a bomb vegan chili.
For the premiere installment of a new monthly column, S.A. Entertained, the Express-news caught up with Sanderson to talk about what else has caught her attention lately.
What are you listening to?
There’s this chick named Tiana Major9. She’s so amazing. She’s a European Black artist. I listen to her. I love Lucky Daye. I still cannot get over the soundtrack for “The Photograph.” That to me is so good. It just drove the movie.
What was the last really good movie you saw?
“Love by the 10th Date.” I did
not expect that movie to be any good going into it, but I really, really like it. It came out in 2017, and I was, like, “Why did I sleep on this?” It has Kelly Rowland in it. It has Keri Hilson in it. So — that’s our people.
What are you always recommending to people?
Locally, Best Quality Daughter restaurant. It’s a brand-new restaurant, Asian fusion. They’re in the Pearl. It’s just delicious. They have really good stuff for people who are vegetarian or vegan. They have some Impossible potstickers, and you would not know that there’s no meat in there.
What have you discovered in the past year?
Hardberger Park. That’s a cool park. They built that nice bridge that goes over Wurzbach Parkway. That’s a cool spot. It’s
pretty, and there’s plenty of scenic walking paths.
Is there a song or poem that uplifts you, or maybe a poet?
There’s a local poet, Ariana Brown. I actually mentored her, but she’s gone on to do extraordinary things. Everything about that child is amazing and miraculous. She’s just dope. She talks about things in a very real way. I really love her. She brings me joy.
What are you looking forward to when things are more normal?
That’s easy. Open mic. That’s all I’m living for.
(Note: Sanderson co-hosts 2nd Verse, a second-friday spoken word showcase, which has been on hold during the pandemic.)