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word music
Lucille Clifton's poetry is, indeed, word music, most likely blues or jazz or gospel or any music that speaks to one's uncomplicated soul.The magic of her poetry is in its accessibility to the reader whether one is a lover of poetry or an infrequent visitor to the world of poetry.
There is joy as well as desperate reality in the rhythmic cadences of her carefully selected words.She brings the reader vision and sound from disparate topics,the poems of Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben or the Meditation on Ten Oxherding Pictures.
Ms. Clifton was, not only, a National Book Award winner, she was, also, a national treasure.
aka, Elizabeth Evans, author Sanakhou ... Read more

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poetry, Clifton's moving new collection ... Read more

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Thoughtful poems that deal with loss and loneliness
"The Terrible Stories," by Lucille Clifton, is a collection of poems that are written in a clear, straightforward style. The themes that strike me as most present in the collection are loss, loneliness, and the burdens of history. The poems within the book are grouped into a number of sequences.

There is a sequence of poems about an encounter with a fox; for me this sequence brings to mind larger issues of human-animal relations. I found the most powerful sequence to be about breast cancer. In the first poem in that sequence, Clifton evokes "audre" (i.e. Audre Lorde, another poet who has written eloquently on breast cancer). Also very moving is "lumpectomy eve," which captures the tenderness of "one breast / comforting the other."

Some poems explore the connection between African-Americans and Africa (these specific poems are "hag riding," "shadows," and "memphis"). Some poems are more overtly political or sociological. "the son of medgar," for example, deals with the trial of the assassin of Medgar Evers. "lorena" is a surprisingly gentle poem which evokes the story of a real-life woman who sexually mutilated her husband.

The final sequence in the book, "From the Book of David," draws from the biblical narratives of King David. These poems explore the violence of David's life, and seem to be asking how we can reconcile David the warrior with David the poet.

Clifton writes with a quiet power in this collection. I recommend this book to all those interested in poetry, African-American studies, and/or women's studies.

Excellent Collection
Clifton writes with great intensity about personal experiences in her poetry.This is a small collection that is powerful and the individual poems stay with you long after you've closed the bok. ... Read more

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large volume of poems plus a personal memoir Amazon.com Review
My favorite book, this is a must-have poetry collection forboth poetry lovers and those who like to think but aren't comfortablewith the density of some contemporary poetry. Clifton, as always, useslanguage that is accessible to craft situations real and vital to herreaders. The section "Some Jesus" probes the emotions ofplain folks faced with miracles; "Good Times" takes its ownsnapshots of family in days past; "I Agree with the Leaves"explores the curious and troubling realms of spirituality and thequest for "place" in the cosmos. Good Woman is a finecompanion to Clifton's most recent book The Terrible Stories. ... Read more

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THis book is about my family
Lucille Clifton is my aunt, my father's sister. However, my father was absent, so to me, this book is more than a collection of poems or casual redaing but a true gift of my own family history in black and white, a history that I wasn't aware of. Now that I it has given me strength. My friends and I summon up my aunt's namesake, the ORIGINAL Lucille (!)anytime we need to lay down the law! Thank you Aunt Lucille for your gift and for this gift to me.

Quiet, meditative, moving...
Lucille Clifton has always been one of my favorite poets.Her accessible poetry captures in moving, eloquent verse living in the world.Her unique voice speaks in language that is not unnecessarily dense and "cerebral": an especially desirable trait given the frequently written complaint regarding lack of readership for modern poetry.Lucille Clifton writes poetry we ALL can relate to, not just the academics and, to be a little unkind, poetry "snobs". Recommended highly.

Shapeshifting and a Poet's Voice and Space . . .
Lucille Clifton's GOOD WOMAN is an excellent volume of poetry.Moreover, the memoir challenges the traditional exercise of writing the self andexperience that merits articulation.Clifton's poems and imagery rarelydisappoint, but name the unspoken and bring greater consciousness andempowerment.

Moving, mesmerizing, revealing, touching, earthy, and lovely
I love reading Lucille Clifton's poetry. I get a real sense of her person,her pain, her history. Some poems are so moving, I can't help but cry. I amstunned to find such fine wording, the way she knows just what word to use.Some of her word choices are unusual....they're not a way that one wouldhave thought of that word, but in the context of the poem, the word finds ahome, makes sense. Additionally, she expresses her appreciation of theearth in almost religious terms; her exploration of religion in her poetryis extremely appealing to me. She seems to have a sense of appreciationfor, and sympathetic understanding of, the characters (Job, Mosesespecially) in the Bible, I feel closer to them myself when viewing themthrough her eyes. I like this book also because you feel the strength ofthe woman behind the words, she's wise, she's had her pain, but she's ableto celebrate those things in life that are worth celebrating -- love,family, simple pleasures and even her own hair and hips. I love too manypoems to list here, but you should go to your library and read these poems;even if you don't buy the book, these poems should find a place in yourlife: Salt, The Lesson of the Falling Leaves, Mary, Cutting Greens....somany more. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did. ... Read more

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not just any good woman
In this thoughtful collection of poetry, Lucille Clifton embraces mortality as quickly as she rejects it. She swallows life's ugliness and spits out something clean like water. Her trademark minimalism is present throughout and as masterful as always.

"Cruelty" made me read it 10x straight... not for understanding, but for the pleasure in the hard beauty and soft power of her words.

You deserve this book.

witand tragedy
ifthename'lucille' means'lightbearer''thisbookfilfullsthatpromise. poetsreadherworktolearnhowtocompresswitandgravityintoaveryfewlines. ireadreadthisabouta decadeagoandjustlookingatthetableofcontentsonPoemFinderboughtbackafewofthelines--iforgivemybody/i forgivemyblood ... Read more

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Lucille Clifton:The Truth Teller
Lucille Clifton's Blessing the Boats is a collection of new poems with selected poems previously published in Quilting, The Book of Light, and The Terrible Stories.Her new poems are laced with themes of racism, the human spirit and its struggles, and Christianity.

My personal favorite of the new poems is located on p. 24 entitled "August."This particular poem struck me in such a way that it made me cry.I think all of us have had someone in our life that lost a battle with drugs and/or alcohol.This sweet wish, just to have a brother back, faults and all, is heart-wrenching for those of us with the same wish.

Some of the poetry seems to be reflections and moments caught in the moment, almost as if she wrote them on envelopes or scrap paper here or there.These musings are entertaining and thought provoking, but do not compare to the raw emotions in the majority of the collection.Clifton goes into the ugly places of racism, drugs, cancer, dialysis, and loss with sensitive forthcoming honesty.Her poetry in these areas could probably say what most would be trying to say in the most difficult times.In places and events where there are no words, Clifton gives them to us."Lumpectomy Eve" and "1994" touches the inner feelings about a woman dealing with breast cancer.Lines 7-15 from "1994":

you know the saddest lies
are the ones we tell ourselves
you know how dangerous it is

to be born with breasts
you know how dangerous it is
to wear dark skin

i was leaving my fifty-eighth year
when i woke into the winter
of a cold and mortal body

This book is an excellent compilation of Clifton's work, both past and present.It is a must read for anyone looking to find words through their own tough times.

Lucille Clifton: Ave Atque Vale
Lucille Clifton is gone but her legacy of simple, honestly felt, seemingly spontaneously written poems about the live of ordinary people who become icons almost by accident will live on, especially through the collection of her works in this award winning volume BLESSING THE BOATS: NEW AND SELECTED POEMS 1988-2000. Her powers of observation of those aspects of our society that are usually shuttered by embarrassment are here made crystalline.She dares to share her own bruised life but rises above the incidents of horror to make us feel the beauty of living because of her courage.While there are many beautifully written poems in this excellent collection, a National Book Award winner, one particularly lingers in the minds of those who read it. ' jasper texas 1998' is dedicated to James Byrd, Jr. - a black man chained to a pickup by three white men and dragged until he was decapitated - and Clifton's elegy is as follows:

jasper texas 1998

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
and was gone.

why and why and why
should i call a white man brother?
who is the human in this place,
the thing that is dragged or the dragger?
what does my daughter say?

the sun is a blister overhead.
if i were alive i could not bear it.
the townsfolk sing we shall overcome
while hope bleeds slowly from my mouth
into the dirt that covers us all.
i am done with this dust. i am done.

Poetry of this power changes lives, changes attitudes, changes mankind.Lucille Clifton will be missed in body but her truth seeking spirit will be always with us.Grady Harp, February 10

Loving Lucille
What a breathtaking poet. This has quickly become one of my fave collections. Clifton is amazingly succinct and deftly descriptive. A beautiful woman, beautiful poems.

Dreamy Whirl Through Life Nuances
Blessing the Boats, New and Selected Poems 1988-2000, Lucille Clifton, BOA, Ltd., Rochester, NY 2000), 132 pp, offers a often dreamy whirl through nuances of life to include lustful desires of the sex, battles with breast cancer, death of a loved one, menopause, oppression and more.Her poems are feminine in perspective, but probably universally applauded.She doesn't insults.They read like surreal episodes from a dream, having fleeting scenes change in time and place in nanosecond flashes.Words.Words are bended and hammered into concepts seen alien, yet fitting.For example, how does one "hear the bright train eye...?"What the hell is the bright train eye?But in the context of " birthday 1999," not only does it fit, it's clear and above all, enlightening.The same cannot be said for all of Clifton poems.So of them includes miscues that makes them not so clear.

Boats is partitioned into four parts, New Poems (2000), From Guilty (1991), From the Book of Light (1993) and From the Terrible Stories (1996).

new poems:
In "moonchild," the author, deals with child sex abuse by a father, but rather than make the reader feel the pain, and anguish towards men, instead she attempts to share she has learned to cope with the memory to minimize, rather than maximize continued pain and suffering.

"the photograph:a lynching," in her poem on "a picture is worth a thousand words," she proves the same can be said for her poem.She describes the stark history of a lynching, and focuses on the stunned witness of the eyes of the children.She questions the whether other kids, black and white, upon seeing the photograph will be taught accurately what happened there or will the story be misinterpreted or discarded altogether.

"jasper texas 1998 for j. byrd"is as plain as it is powerful.The narrator asks, who's inhuman, the dragged or the draggers, clearly knowing the answer-- for the victim was dragged to death, involuntarily.But, so was Rodney King's beating, although some believed that he was in control throughout the ordeal.She concludes that deposits that if singing, "We Shall Overcome" is all we going to do about oppression, then we can expect more of the same.

In "alabama 9/15/63," the narrator feels so much for the 4 little black girls will go to heaven, but even that vision is obscured by the memory of a church bombing them to smithereens.

"Praise song," illustrates the warmth of unconditional love, the idea of welcoming a family member back home against their frailties, even when they appear to have lost their mind.

from quilting:
In "birth of language," we see the proverbial Adam shuddering to whisper, "Eve," which is excellent, loaded imagery, given what would be come the most dynamic relationship known to man.His shuddering was fitting.

"sleeping beauty" is funny and typical of the male-female dynamic - she comes out of a sleep and the first thing she notices is man, "and she blamed him."

book oflight:
"women you are accustomed to," Clifton extols egalitarian gender values:she wants to be the women her man has been accustomed to, because misses his "dancing tongue."

"song at midnight," the poet depicts the loneliness of an unattractive woman, as she extols, love this woman who needs love because if the Black man doesn't, who else will?

"the earth is a living thing," personifies earth as a "black and living thing...in its kinky hair."

There are a series of poems that use the metaphor of "superman" and "clark kent," to reveal issues of romance where the expectation is that men have superman powers even though there's no reference to narrator personified as the fabled "Lois."

from the terrible stories:
"fox" poems are many in which the narrator personifies a fox, fearful of the terrible stories it must tell.These poems are the sex chronicles of a woman lacking and yearning for sex, notnecessarily romance.

Like "leaving fox," in desperation, the narrator drops her guards totally, leaving herself open to all kinds of pain to get the sex she craves."keep the door unlocked until something human comes in."She knows she's exposes her vulnerabilities to the worse that may come in, but she has accepted it apart of her fulfillment.

In "one year later," the narrator ponders what if she yields to her vixen desires, but pre-empts the thought with fear of what will follow-- how ill it change or impact her life, her home, her poetry?

"a dream of foxes," the narrator supposes what if women could pursue their vixen dreams without the fear of consequences.

In `amazons,"the narrator returns to other issues, such as breast cancer, mastectomy, and more.She had inherited the breast cancer gene from generations of women before her.But, fortunately, there was only a scare, due to early detection.

`slaveships" she asks why did God not protect all from the inhuman hypocrites who enslaved her people in the name of God.She questions whether the sins can go on.

In "memory," narrator recalls a childhood stripped of oppression's shadow, so she will feel like she's done a good job of protecting her child's childhood.

A few poems from Boats escaped my level of sophistication.For example, "white lady," the narrator cries to cocaine to give her a ransom so she may have her kids back.- cocaine will only tell her to make her kids depend more.I thought those well taken pleas could be better be directed at the government, white supremacy, or the dealers, but not cocaine.

And, in "poem in praise of menstruation," Clifton uses metaphors that are astounding in that they sound so right even though unless you're in a dream state, they really don't make sense.For example, uses a simile of"blood red edge of the moon" - the moonisn't red at all.A better simile might have been the sun.Or, it could be something I'm not getting because I am a man.Perhaps that is her point, during that period, excuse the pun, the sun, the moon, they're all the same.

Using a prose style, Clifton's words are defined not by Webster but by the context in which she uses them. Her words often take flight from when we've known them to some far off place where she's taking us.

Inciteful Read
Review
Paul L. McGehee

Clichés are literary sins, so Lord forgive me when I say Lucile Clifton's Blessing the Boats: New and Selected Poems 1988-2000, is a blessing to own and an inciteful read. Clifton's lines and questions resonate well within the mind of a human being struggling with the issues of living. Like her story of Cancer in the poem "Dialysis", which leaves me with, "...in my dream a house is burning...in my dream I call it light". On another level, as a Black man I can appreciate her questioning the relationships between men women; love, interracial dating, rape, and lynching. Yet it is as a man comes the only critic, well not so much of a critic as it is the perspective coming from another vessel (so to speak). Clifton's poems run deep with imagery and situations articulating the complexities of being a woman, a black woman, in this society. It gives me incite, after all, mothers and sisters have left an impression of black womanhood on my heart, yet me not being a black woman (no shame hear, no offense), I don't get the poems, wholly and truly. That is it; but it is not enough to say this would not be a great addition to anyone's literary alter. ... Read more

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Two skeptical city boys set out to find spring which they've heard is "just around the corner". ... Read more

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Looking for Spring Wherever You Are
This is a brilliant rendering of the joys of finding Spring, and its promise of new beginnings and hope. Children everywhere will benefit by reading King Shabazz' story, particularly the many children who are not exposed to inner city life.

A great adventure for the young urban child, rural children may not get it
King Shabazz is an urban boy in early elementary school who has a profound disbelief in the concept of spring. When it is mentioned in his presence, he demands to see the evidence, saying, "Where is it at?" His disbelief is so great that he recruits his friend Tony Polito to accompany him on a search for spring. They wander the neighborhood, smelling the smells and going far beyond their usual turf.
Eventually, they see an abandoned car in a vacant lot and a strange noise is coming from it. As they conquer their fear and walk towards the car, they encounter some bright yellow flowers growing among the rubbish. When they reach the car, they discover a bird's nest containing a clutch of blue eggs, which prompts King to say, "Man it's spring." Fortunately, Tony's big brother spots them and escorts them back to familiar territory.
To the very young child, this is a great adventure, crossing the street all-alone and finding things they had never seen before. It is an adventure for the urban child, many rural children will find a bit silly.
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A collection of poetry by the Pulitzer Prize-nominated poet and author of Quilting features works that locate the eternal sublime amid mundane experience. Simultaneous. ... Read more

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Highly recommended
It's hard to believe what Lucille Clifton can do with a handful of lines of poetry. She is our modern-day Emily Dickinson and despite all the praise that she's received over her career, it's not nearly enough. In her best work -- which is most of her work -- it's as if her intelligence cracks open a hole in the sky, a revelation that approaches religious experience. Book of Light is to my mind her very best book. It includes poem cycles based on both classical pagan mythology and judeo-christian scriptures, most notably a fabulous monologue in which Satan addresses God -- the best and most interesting use of Satan in English poetry since John Milton.

Delightful Collection
Lucille Clifton's Book of Light manages to convey some of the joy of the author.The poems are simple but their message is not.A wonderful book to serve as an introduction to one of American's premiere poets.

A beautiful, heartfelt, heart-full collection of poetry...
I was fortunate enough to hear Ms. Clifton read from this and other works at a small reading in Southern Maryland a few summers back...her rich, resonant voice was the pefect accompaniment to her heartfelt-yet-sparelanguage. In the "Clark Kent" series of poems in this collection,she slays the reader in a single line that cuts through the pretty proseone might find in another poet's work, arriving at the heart ofdisappointed love ("the question for you is/what have you evertraveled toward/more than your own safety?). In another favorite,"still there is mercy, there is grace," she celebrates the quiet,filling grace of god (how otherwise/could i, a sleek old/traveler/curl oneday safe and still/ beside You/at Your feet, perhaps/but, amen, Yours) Fromlove to God---and maybe the two, of course, aren't at such a distance---toeverything in between, Ms. Clifton captures what it is to be, to feel, toconnect with others...and while some of her poetry also beautifully andmystically celebrates and mourns the experiences of African Americans, hervoice is too universal, in my opinion, to categorize; there wasn't a wordin this collection that failed to cross over color and burrow itself rightinto the heart of the whole color spectrum of human experience. If you canhear her read, don't miss it, but if you can't, her voice will sing throughfrom the pages with clarity and grace. ... Read more

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Mercy
"Mercy" is a collection of poems by a poet that I discovered only last year. Lucille Clifton's "Blessing the Boats" is a fantastic collection of the most moving and lyrical poems I've read in many years. It was a great discovery and I was eager to get "Mercy" to continue reading her more recent work.

"Mercy" is more terse in tone, the tension deriving from the gravity of her subject matter. It is more weighty and erudite than the collection in "Boats," but every bit as profound and endearing.

Lucille Clifton died on Feb. 12th from a protracted battle with cancer. The world has lost a significant voice and I am glad I can honor her in my class rooms. I will make sure her poems live on in the minds and hearts of young people. She deserves a permanent home there.

Wonderful Poetry, Amazing Sentiment.Must Read!
Lucille Clifton has been writing poetry since the 60s.Her poems have ranged from the monumental to the everyday, but her progression as a poet has been unfettered.She is a national treasure.There are some very interesting poems in this volume.

"September Song" is bound to draw interest, 7 poems marking the days from the September 11th terrorist attack.Clifton's treatment is unflappable.She dares us to question everything about the experience, from our fears to our subsequent reactions.She is more than unabashedly political in her views, she is also honest.

Other poems like "on dying" do recall Dickinson.The poem gives you a sense of resolution, not of loss.It's a beautiful treatment that ties in well with other poems about the mortality of being diagnosed with cancer and the surreal experience of being outside your own body.

And Clifton has never shied from treatments of race either.But she goes deeper than just race and looks at the concepts of division.

"the river between us" is used to juxtapose the confident self reliant man who fishes the river and the god-fearing man who goes to the river seeking salvation and calling for help from above.It's a powerful statement and a testament to her range and skill.

If minimalism is your benchmark for exceptional poetry, few have a better mastery than Lucille Clifton.

At times this seems like several books of poetry back to back.There are some sequences that require you to change gears very quickly.

Still this is a wonderful book of poetry, which is highly recommended.

Enjoy.

First Rate
Once again, Lucille Cliftton testifies magnificently to the fullness of a life lived with all it's heartaches, triumphs and lasting understanding.

In plaintive and beautifully sparse and simple language she transports the reader into her world with all its soulfulness and quiet reflection.Wonderful.

The Triumph of Clifton's "Mercy"
"Mercy" is an exquisite, transcendent collection of poetry.Lucille Clifton has always written sophisticated, fearless poems that reveal the omnipresent terrors and singular triumphs of human existence.These poems are as clear, direct and beautiful as ever Clifton has written; they speak again and again to the pain that tears open our lives -- and the grace of love that can save us a little, maybe even enough. ... Read more

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poems from the late 80s ... Read more

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Widely acclaimed for her powerful explorations of race, womanhood, spirituality, and mortality, poet Lucille Clifton has published ten volumes of poems since 1969 and has received numerous accolades for her work, including the 2000 National Book Award for Blessing the Boats.Her verse is featured in almost every anthology of contemporary poetry, and her readings draw large and enthusiastic audiences.Although Clifton’s poetry is a pleasure to read, it is neither as simple nor as blithely celebratory as readers sometimes assume. The bursts of joy found in her polished, elegant lines are frequently set against a backdrop of regret and sorrow.Alternately consoling, stimulating, and emotionally devastating, Clifton’s poems are unforgettable.

In Wild Blessings, Hilary Holladay offers the first full-length study of Clifton’s poetry, drawing on a broad knowledge of the American poetic tradition and African American poetry in particular. Holladay places Clifton’s poems in multiple contexts—personal, political, and literary—as she explicates major themes and analyzes specific works: Clifton’s poems about womanhood, a central concern throughout her career; her fertility poems, which are provocatively compared with Sylvia Plath’s poems on the same subject; her relation to the Black Arts Movement and to other black female poets, such as Gwendolyn Brooks and Sonia Sanchez; her biblical poems; her elegies; and her poignant family history, Generations, an extended prose poem. This illuminating book concludes with a wide-ranging interview with Clifton, in which she discusses her poetry and private life.

Readers encountering Lucille Clifton’s poems for the first time and those long familiar with her distinctive voice will benefit from Hilary Holladay’s perceptive and striking insights into the work of a leading American poet. ... Read more

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Being Blessed

Hilary Holladay's Wild Blessings is a well-written, well-researched critical study. It offers insight into the professional, as well as private, world of famed poet Lucille Clifton. Clifton is an incredibly talented writer, as well as a prolific speaker and activist. Holladay makes good use of these talents and brings them to the forefront in this illuminating book about the artist. Personally, after reading Wild Blessings, I had a better, much deeper, appreciation for Clifton and her work. Wild Blessings is a must read for literary scholars and students alike.



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A lucky stone provides good fortune for its various owners. ... Read more

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More Than a Lucky Stone
I absolutely adore this book. I read it to my oldest daughter over 15 years ago and to my youngest daughter recently. It is a great night time read or simply a delightful story to transport one back to safe times of rememberance. The joy of having a Lucky Stone is one thing but Being a Lucky Stone is even cooler. Pick the book, find a stone and claim Yourself Lucky ... Read more

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"A simple, poetic telling of Everett Anderson's feelings as he copes with andaccepts the fact of his father's death."--Childhood Education. Coretta ScottKing Award; NCTE Teacher's Choice; Reading Rainbow Feature. Full color. ... Read more

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everett andersons good bye
best book for children when some one they love dies
simply identifyies the feelings they are having

Everett Anderson's Goodbye
I ordered this book to read with children in my school who are dealing with the death of a loved one.It is a wonderful book.

Not what I expected
I ordered this book based on the fantastic reviews, but it was not what I expected, and I returned it.I was looking for a book for a young boy (4)who recently lost his father to Leukemia. This book might be good for young children who are very angry and going through the extreme emotions that can happen with a loss like this, but the boy I wanted to give this to is not having such extreme emotions.He is sad, as can be expected, and misses his Dad, but he's not acting out in anger or "mad at the world", as the boy in this book.Maybe this would be better suited to someone who had more of a sudden loss, and isn't coping well emotionally.It just wasn't right for the situation in my case. Overall, I felt it was too negative, and just not the right choice for someone who is already coping with a loss in a healthy way.

A Beautiful, Gentle Book about Loss and Acceptance.
This is one of my all time favorites. A beautiful, tender book about a small boy going through the five stages of grief. A book that reaches out to you and comforts you.

Perfect for Pastoral Counseling
I read this book the first year I was in the pastorate, some 14 years ago or so. It has been the perfect book to help my younger staff people understand the process of grief. This book has never failed to bring up the emotions of loss which every staff member has suffered. The five stages of grief, is a universal understanding which has helped every adult I have worked with, to understand how they are "normal" in their feelings.

Further, every staff person I have worked with, has bought this book. We use it more for adults, than for children. (Though it is very good for children.) The reason why, is because the verse is very sharp and connects with the soul of people. The adult empathizes with the little boy. This, in turn, connects the adult with the universal nature of grief.

I could spend hours upon hours of counseling grief without this book. With this book, most of my parishoners who have suffered loss, work through the stages with heads up and eyes open... tears and all. All have moved through the stages without fixating very long in any of them.

Lucille Clifton, is simply a genius. Ann Grifalconi (illustrator) brings the genius to Clifton's wise and calming verse with her warm charcoal illustrations. Thank you, ladies. ... Read more

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Until her birthday a young girl is convinced everyone makes promises to her that only she remembers. ... Read more

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A little black boy tries to find out where his people are from. ... Read more

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A Worthwhile Vintage Purchase!
I marvel at the number of African American children's books that can be used as effective teaching tools, yet are no longer in print.Lucille Clifton's ALL US COME CROSS THE WATER is one such literary work.Published in 1973, the book serves as an excellent springboard to writing, empowering blossoming writers to write from the heart.This work also serves as in invaluable resource to embrace diversity.ALL US COME CROSS THE WATER confronts a thought-provoking question that (in spite of DNA testing and technological advances) continues to haunt many black Americans:"From which African country is our ancestry rooted?"In a colloquial, humorous, yet candid way, Clifton addresses this seemingly timeless question.She brings to the forefront that Africa is not a country, that it and its people and cannot be generally classified.This work conveys that it is the role of the family extended to pass down the history to the children, rooting them in all aspects of their heritage.Clifton's work heralds the importance of reaching out to community to empower the individual and ultimately the collective body.Should you purchase this work for classroom use, before presenting it to a young audience, ensure that background information is conveyed.For example, Dahomey, a powerful West African Kingdom during the 17th century referred to in this work, is today called the Republic of Benin.Reference to Ujamaa, the little boy and main character in the story, sleeping in the same bed with his father conveys the family-bed concept embraced by many families across cultures.Verbs and nouns do not agree on every page; yet the writing style proves artistically effective.(Creative instructors can also use this work to highlight the formal use of verb/noun agreement.) A great vintage resource to spark investigative research into one's ancestry, ALL US COME CROSS THE WATER is worth the purchase for use with young learners! ... Read more

Product Description

Writing and composing with honesty and humanism, Lucille Clifton is known for her themes of the body, family, community, politics, womanhood, and the spirit. While much of her work deals with the African American experience, she does not limit herself to that perspective, addressing topics common to all women, to all people. This timely and important biography will give readers a glimpse into the life and work of this important and revered African American poet, writer, and educator, exploring themes that run throughout her writing, as well as the personal obstacles she faced and overcame.

Lucille Clifton was born in Depew, New York, in 1936. Today, she is one of the most important and revered African American poets, writers, and educators in the nation. In addition to several works of poetry, she has written more than 15 children's books. Her work has been nominated for three Pulitzer Prizes and two National Book Awards, one of which she won for Blessing the Boats: New and Selected Poems 1988-2000 in 2000. In 1999, she was appointed and remains a Chancellor of the American Academy of Poets, one of the most prestigious honors in American letters. Among her best known works is the poem miss rosie, anthologized many times over and a standard part of high school curriculums. She has won an Emmy award, a Lannan Literary Award, two fellowships from the National Endowmant for the the Arts, and many other prestigious awards. Writing and composing with honesty and humanism, Clifton is known for her themes of the body, family, community, politics, womanhood, and the spirit. While much of her work deals with the African American experience, she does not limit herself to that perspective, addressing topics common to all women, to all people. This biography covers Clifton's life and work, addressing themes that run throughout her writing as well as the personal obstacles she faced and overcame, including her own faultering health. This timely and important biography will give readers a glimpse into the life of one of America's most important, influential, and enduring writers.