National Poetry Month: “Won’t You Celebrate With Me”
April 23rd, 2007 by Matt
I came to know the poetry of Lucille Clifton when I first started writing during high school. I came to truly appreciate the poetry of Lucille Clifton only recently.
Why? I don’t know for sure, but I think Clifton’s work benefits from a reader who has a better understanding of suffering, which is also to say, a reader who has a better understanding of joy. When I was in high school, I thought suffering was not getting to play street hockey, and I thought joy was, well, was getting to play street hockey.
Then, I thought, Why doesn’t she capitalize? And now I like to think of Clifton’s poems as little mirrors reflecting our own complex lives and, at the same time, as little windows into the congruent lives of others. And now I realize Clifton’s gift: she manages to teach without preaching; she illuminates.
And if it’s a resume you want, well, a resume she’s got: umpteen books of poetry and nonfiction, as well as 16 books for children; two National Endowment for the Arts fellowships; two Pulitzer Prize nominations; and (get this) an Emmy.
But these accolades don’t do justice to Clifton’s work, work grounded so deeply in real experience that we can’t help but nod as we let her words whirl around in our heads.
Enjoy.
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WON’T YOU CELEBRATE WITH ME
.
won’t you celebrate with me
what i have shaped into
a kind of life? i had no model.
born in babylon
both nonwhite and woman
what did i see to be except myself?
i made it up
here on this bridge between
starshine and clay,
my one hand holding tight
my other hand; come celebrate
with me that everyday
something has tried to kill me
and has failed.
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