9 Must-Read Lucille Clifton Poems

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.

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won’t you celebrate with me

‘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.

This poem is considered a powerful and significant poem in Lucille Clifton's body of work, and many readers and literary critics appreciate its themes of determination, resilience, and celebration of the self in the face of adversity. The poem's use of spare language, free verse structure, and straightforward tone also makes it accessible to a wide range of readers.

won't you celebrate with me

what i have shaped into

a kind of life? i had no model.

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jasper texas 1998

‘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.

This is an immensely impactful and moving example of Lucille Clifton's poetry, which often offers unabashed and unblinking glimpses into the cruel ways racism against Black Americans has manifested itself. The poem's incredibly visceral imagery and use of figurative language make it a brutally emotional experience for the reader, one that illustrates in stark terms the barbarism of racial violence.

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

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the mother’s story

‘the mother’s story’ by Lucille Clifton is a poem about the female community, encouragement and hope in a world with gender inequalities. It shows an older generation of African American women impacting subtly implied feminist ideals in the younger generation, exemplified by Clifton herself.

'the mother's story' by Lucille Clifton is only part of a much larger narrative of Clifton's poems which all together promote gender and racial equality. While this certainly is not a minus, it does not particularly make 'the mother's story' stand out.

and i thought what is this to bring

to one black girl from buffalo

until the last one came and smiled,

she said,

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At Last We Killed The Roaches

‘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.

at last we killed the roaches.

mama and me. she sprayed,

i swept the ceiling and they fell

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good times

‘good times’ by Lucille Clifton spotlights simple moments of delight in poverty from a child’s perspective.

my daddy has paid the rent

and the insurance man is gone

and the lights is back on

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homage to my hips

Clipton’s ‘homage to my hips’ celebrates body positivity and female empowerment, praising the strength and freedom of her hips.

these hips are big hips

they need space to

move around in.

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oh antic God

“oh antic God” by Clifton explores the deep longing for a lost mother, merging nostalgia with the fading clarity of memory.

oh antic God

return to me

my mother in her thirties

leaned across the front porch

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The Death of Fred Clifton

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.

I seemed to be drawn

to the center of myself

leaving the edges of me

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to my last period

‘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.

well, girl, goodbye,

after thirty-eight years.

thirty-eight years and you

never arrived

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9 Must-Read Lucille Clifton Poems

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