Lucille Clifton
Lucille Clifton
Lucille Clifton was an American poet, writer, and educator from Buffalo, New York. From 1979 to 1985 she was Poet Laureate of Maryland. Clifton was nominated twice for the Pulitzer Prize for poetry...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPoet
Date of Birth27 June 1936
CityDepew, NY
CountryUnited States of America
answers one-thing
What they call you is one thing. What you answer to is something else.
writing simple ideas
I write from my knowledge not my lack, from my strength not my weakness. I am not interested if anyone knows whether or not I am familiar with big words, I am interested in trying to render big ideas in a simple way. I am interested in being understood not admired.
memories want remember
they ask me to remember but they want me to remember their memories and I keep on remembering mine
beautiful clear
Say it clear, and it will be beautiful.
different asking bigger
In the bigger scheme of things the universe is not asking us to do something, the universe is asking us to be something. And that's a whole different thing.
imagine
We cannot create what we can't imagine.
writing care poet
To be a good poet, you must care more about the writing, than the writer.
loneliness eye bird
We need new words for what this is, this hunger entering our loneliness like birds, stunning our eyes into rays of hope. we need the flutter that can save us, something that will swirl across the face of what we have become and bring us grace.
matter language poetry-is
Poetry is a matter of life, not just a matter of language.
eye pairs endure
Every pair of eyes facing you has probably experienced something you could not endure.
hands bridges everyday
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.
adversity break made
Even when the universe made it quite clear to me that I was mistaken in my certainties ... I did not break. The shattering of my sureties did not shatter me.
celebrate kill-me
Come celebrate with me that every day something has tried to kill me and has failed.
kissing wind may
may you kiss the wind then turn from it certain that it will love your back