Lucille Clifton was a widely read and respected American poet. Her work was promoted by Langston Hughes in The Poetry of the Negro. Her work often focuses on adversity and the experience of Black women in the United States. She won the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize to Clifton in 2007 and was the first author to have two books of poetry chosen as finalists for the Pulitzer Prize.
‘won’t you celebrate with me’ by Lucille Clifton addresses racism and inherent gender inequality. The speaker has overcome every hurdle and modeled herself in her own image.
won't you celebrate with me
what i have shaped into
a kind of life? i had no model.
‘jasper texas 1998’ by Lucille Clifton is a devastating poem that illustrates both the poet’s frustrated fury over and the dehumanizing barbarity of systemic racial violence against Black people in the United States.
i am a man's head hunched in the road.
i was chosen to speak by the members
of my body. the arm as it pulled away
pointed toward me, the hand opened once
‘At Last We Killed The Roaches’ by Lucille Clifton is a thoughtful poem about an experience in a speaker’s childhood with roaches. Read a complete summary and analysis of the poem.
This poem is about the death of Lucille Clifton’s husband, Fred James Clifton, who passed away on 11 October 1984 at the age of 49. It evokes the spirit of Fred and describes his discovery of something new.
‘to my last period’ by Lucille Clifton is a thoughtful poem. In it, the speaker mourns for her lost youth and acknowledges further changes to come.
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