LFG #6: Karen Smith - the LFG interview
"Just people in the moment with you"
It’s impossible to imagine the Philly poetry and music scene without Karen Smith. A 2023 Pew Fellow and board member or advisor for institutions including the Barnes, the Bartol Foundation, and the Arthur Ross Gallery, Smith is a multidisciplinary artist whose creative practice centers on the seamless fusion of percussion and poetry. As a self-taught percussionist and founder of multiple musical collectives, she utilizes her drumming and spoken word to capture community cadences and foster deep artistic partnerships, bringing a rhythmic and poetic spirit to both traditional and non-traditional performance settings.
LFG talked with Smith last month at d’griot in Germantown, the site of The Fullest Moon of Sonia Sanchez, a filmed performance celebrating the beloved poet and activist’s 2004 album Full Moon of Sonia. That 18-track collection of poems set to music speaks to the impact Sanchez’s poetry has had on music, and vice versa. Last year’s event in Germantown, memorialized in Smith’s film, brings that message home (literally; Sanchez has lived in Germantown for many years), capturing a live performance by poets, musicians, friends, and Sonia Sanchez herself, performing poems from the album one afternoon in April 2025.
Pillars and organizers of Philly’s poetry and spoken word communities, including Debra Powell-Wright, current Philadelphia poet laureate Raina León, Nzadi Keita, Trapeta Mayson, and Lady Sarkayzm, all read Sanchez’s work in a warm, intimate environment that went beyond d’griot’s walls to fill Maplewood Mall with words and music. The film screened most recently at The Rotunda alongside new live performances – as Smith says, “It wouldn’t be an event for Sonia without performances happening right there.”
During our conversation, we discussed Karen Smith’s thoroughly interconnected artistic practice, including and beyond The Fullest Moon of Sonia Sanchez – her near-constant (and constantly innovative) collaborations to create spaces where music, poetry, and improvisation co-exist.
LFG: So, thank you for making time, especially during National Poetry Month! I thought we could start off talking about The Fullest Moon of Sonia Sanchez. Tell me a little bit about it. I know you’ve worked with Sonia Sanchez for a long time.
Karen Smith: Yeah, over the years, I’ve worked with her a few times. We both lived in New York, we lived up in Harlem, but I never met her up there. Never even saw her perform there, but for whatever reason, I came here and I started seeing her name everywhere. I’m, like, oh, I gotta go see her. At Robin’s Bookstore, actually. Larry [Robin], yeah, he’s so responsible for that, cuz he brought in a lot of artists like Sonia.
So that’s how I first met her, at Robin’s, and she was so approachable. Back in the 90s, it was something amazing. Everybody I met there was very approachable because it was just so laid-back, grassroots. I saw Octavia Butler there. Ted Joans. Amiri Baraka – just so many people came through there. I’m sure I’m forgetting a whole bunch of names that I met over the years through Robin’s bookstore. I give Larry props because he’s still doing it, with Moonstone, with an online presence, and he still has an in-person presence at readings, a partnership with the library… So many people have met through him.
Is [Robin’s] where you think you started to build your poetry community here, or was it more than just one hub?
Yeah, a combination of there, October Gallery, the Painted Bride, the Rotunda, just so many places.My interest in poetry started even before I got here, I mean, I was writing, but once I got here, I said, This is a poetry town. There’s a lot of people who are poets. Ursula Rucker, Yolanda Wisher, and all the folks that I’ve met over the years.
The Church of the Advocate was doing a lot of theater and poetry and music, too. I think we need to really recognize Church of the Advocate because they open their doors for so many artists and activists, in the 20th and 21st centuries.
Speaking of which: You are really explicit about seeing yourself as a humanitarian. There are lots of artists who call ourselves activists, and I wondered about that specific word. To me, it has a global connotation, and I see that in the range of collaborations you do. When did you start identifying that way, and what does “humanitarian” mean to you?
I think it’s the way I was raised, kind of, okay, I can’t see the world through just my lens. It seems so natural, as an artist, we’re sensitive people to do what we do, right? We can easily embrace the real commercial part of the entertainment world, and then you can kind of lose it. But if you stay grounded and surround yourself with people outside of that, and don’t forget about caring about other people, because it’s not just about you, you gotta care about the planet, right? You know, it’s not just yours, and we’re all here temporarily. In the end, promoting peace. I love that about Sonia. When I first saw her, that’s what she talked about, no matter what, she talked about peace. That it should be what guides us. Because we need each other, you can’t do this life by yourself. It’s not designed that way.
So just returning to the film for a moment, and the big performance here last year. I mean, what a lineup.
They all agreed, and I’m like, what? It was only a little bit of money involved, but they didn’t say no. Everybody who could say yes said yes. And there was no rehearsal. We just vibed off of one another. It couldn’t be more perfect. Even the unexpected. Like, [Sanchez] was supposed to be there. And she wasn’t feeling well all week, so in the end, she did a piece over the phone, and it’s in the film.
For the whole event, we turned on this camera, and we just recorded it. I didn’t even really want the editing to change anything. Just give it to the world just like that.
How did the idea for a filmed event come about?
It just evolved into it. I had put this community together to do a Sonia Sanchez-palooza, but as an event for her work, not a film. So [poet and activist] Debra Wright was applying for the black music film, uh, Black Music City Grant. Yeah, and she said, “We should do something with Sonia Sanchez.” I’m like, well, we have to do music, and I think it was Raina [León] who said, “Well, what if we did the CD? Full Moon of Sonia?” And I’m, like, oh yeah, the CD! Perfect.
It was like two days before the deadline, and so we worked together. They said, “ You’ll be the lead, and we’ll support, and everybody did their part. And the folks who reviewed it, obviously, liked the idea. And so that’s the tribute. That’s what everybody does in the film, the CD specifically. They’re all doing pieces from that. So, yeah, it was very magical. I still feel the energy of them in here [d’griot], cuz we were in here, people spilled out into the street, the kids were playing, it was just real Sonia Sanchez, you know?
So after the performance at the Rotunda, where does the film go next?
Yeah, I want more people to see it! So far, it’s only been in Germantown and Mt Airy. So now, West Philly, and it will be shown at Arcadia University this summer, and the Paul Robeson House. And I’m going to take it down to the Cultural Center in Greensboro, North Carolina. I did a residency there last year. It’s a beautiful center, one of the highlights, along with the International Civil Rights Center & Museum.
You’re a percussionist, a poet, a playwright, and now a filmmaker. When did you decide to make art and music your profession, not just your passion?
I always wanted to. It was just kind of figuring out, but I would get discouraged and things like that because I didn’t have the support to say, “ Don’t worry about it. You’re gonna do it. Stay here. We’ll make the money, just focus on your art.” I had love and support but I didn’t have that support, so I always had to have something to fall back on. It was, you can do it on the side. But I want to be that million to one. I knew I can be that one. But life can make you wonder, when is it going to happen? I’m getting older, like so, when is it going to happen?
When do you feel like it happened?
In 2011, 2012. I was at my last job, last nine-to-five. Okay, I’m like, I don’t see this making me happy. Not even just the job, but the two weeks, the benefits, steady income, whatever that is. It just didn’t excite me. Boredom was just taking over more. I wasn’t putting any effort into it, because I had another life. Right. I really did, and in 2012, I made a decision. I’m like, I can’t go into the new year and do this anymore. And I did fall on my face at first. Because I had nothing to support me other than my dream and my faith. I just had to believe that I was gonna do it, and I couldn’t run this time when it got hard, like I’d done before. So by 2013, I made that decision. I said, whatever has to be done to stay in it, I’m doing it. I had to have roommates, you know, whatever it took. And by 2016, something clicked, and by 2018, I realized that I was doing it without constantly looking back.
What other projects or collaborations are coming up that you’re excited about?
Well, there’s Art Philly. I’m a part of that. I’m part of a procession that’s happening downtown, starting from the Betsy Ross house. And there’s going to be stops along the way, and at every stop, things are gonna be happening, there will be different stations. And that’s May 28th. And what else is coming up? I’m going to be part of a Shakespeare piece [King Lear], right now it’s in rehearsal.
What’s it been like?
So far, it’s been good because most of the people, not all, but most people I know and have worked with them before. The director, Deb Braak, I’ve worked with her before, and I was happy to come back because she helps performers show their talents, she’s not rigid. And I love challenging Shakespeare because I haven’t been a Shakespeare fan. Although I think now it’s partly my ignorance of the whole language of it, because there are some good stories. He really was a good writer. Yeah, you know, the more things I’ve done, it’s just like real salty because for example I saw Othello on Broadway, and I enjoyed it. I didn’t even think I would be able to follow, but when you see it, you figure it out.
How is the drumming evolving alongside the play now, are you playing at specific moments or just playing as it comes?
Yeah, I’m playing as it happens. I love doing soundscapes, bringing out the mood. I love creating moods. I’m also a director, and I love underlining the moods that are there from the playwright, from the actors. And with the drums, to accent something happening in the moment – to build up, or bring it down, or somewhere in the middle.
I love creating those moments. That’s what I get to do. You hear, just like, little things that invite you to respond and build.
It sounds like it will be really powerful, a very unique way to experience the play. You’re known for performing everywhere and anywhere. Do you have a favorite space or setting?
I actually get the most excitement, because I think it’s the most challenging, playing on the street. Get people to stop whatever they’re doing. I think that’s a beautiful thing. I don’t take it for granted, whether they give you money or not. It’s like you get them to stop, pause. There’s this connection. I don’t get to busk much at all these days. Sometimes I do get to play on the street, because that’s what I’m hired to do. So, I like that, but it’s a little more sterile. It’s not like just setting up a bucket and hanging out and seeing what happens, hustling, trying to make some money for the day. Yeah. I don’t miss the hustling, but I love how genuine it is. How unpredictable. Just people in the moment with you.