The Collected Poems of Lucille Clifton 1965-2010 by Clifton, Lucille -- Read -- Imperial Library of Trantor

Index

Cover Title Page Copyright Contents Editors’ Note Foreword: Lucille Clifton Early Uncollected Poems (1965–1969)

black women old hundred the old availables have chan’s dream from Dark Nursery Rhymes for a Dark Daughter 5/23/67 R.I.P. only too high is high enough the coming of x Conversation Overheard in a Graveyard sunday dinner my friend mary stone from oxford mississippi spring thought for thelma my mother teached me To Mama too late Dear Mama Dear Dear plain as a baby Everytime i talk about satchmo for prissly the last Seminole is black a poem written for many moynihans the poet is thirty two quotations from aunt margaret brown daddy take somebody like me let them say

good times (1969)

in the inner city my mama moved among the days my daddy’s fingers move among the couplers lane is the pretty one miss rosie robert the 1st running across to the lot still good times if i stand in my window stops the discoveries of fire those boys that ran together pity this poor animal the white boy the meeting after the savior gone for deLawd ca’line’s prayer if he ask you was i laughing if something should happen generations love rejected tyrone (1) willie b (1) tyrone (2) willie b (2) tyrone (3) willie b (3) tyrone (4) willie b (4) buffalo war flowers pork chops now my first wife never did come out of her room the way it was admonitions

good news about the earth (1972)

about the earth

after kent state being property once myself the way it was the lost baby poem later i’ll say apology lately the ’70s listen children driving through new england the news the bodies broken on song prayer

heroes

africa i am high on the man called crazy earth for the bird who flew against our window one morning and broke his natural neck God send easter so close wise: having the ability to perceive and adopt the best means for accomplishing an end. malcolm eldridge to bobby seale for her hiding place richard penniman daddy poem for my sisters the kind of man he is

some jesus

adam and eve cain moses solomon job daniel jonah john mary joseph the calling of the disciples the raising of lazarus palm sunday good friday easter sunday spring song

Uncollected Poems (1973–1974)

Phillis Wheatley Poetry Festival All of Us Are All of Us

an ordinary woman (1974)

sisters

in salem sisters leanna’s poem on the birth of bomani salt a storm poem god’s mood new bones harriet roots come home from the movies to ms. ann my boys last note to my girls a visit to gettysburg monticello to a dark moses Kali this morning

i agree with the leaves

the lesson of the falling leaves i am running into a new year the coming of Kali she insists on me she understands me she is dreaming her love poem calming Kali i am not done yet the poet turning my poem lucy one-eye if mama i was born in a hotel light cutting greens jackie robinson i went to the valley at last we killed the roaches in the evenings breaklight some dreams hang in the air the carver let there be new flowering the thirty eighth year

Uncollected Poems (ca. 1975)

Anniversary 5/10/74 November 1, 1975 “We Do Not Know Very Much About Lucille’s Inner Life”

two-headed woman (1980)

homage to mine

lucy and her girls i was born with twelve fingers homage to my hair homage to my hips what the mirror said there is a girl inside to merle august the 12th on the death of allen’s son speaking of loss to thelma who worried because i couldn’t cook poem on my fortieth birthday to my mother who died young februrary 13, 1980 forgiving my father to the unborn and waiting children aunt agnes hatcher tells the once and future dead

two-headed woman

in this garden the making of poems new year sonora desert poem my friends wife i once knew a man angels conversation with my grandson, waiting to be conceived the mystery that surely is present the astrologer predicts at mary’s birth anna speaks of the childhood of mary her daughter mary’s dream how he is coming then holy night a song of mary island mary mary mary astonished by God for the blind for the mad for the lame for the mute God waits for the wandering world the light that came to lucille clifton

the light that came to lucille clifton

testament incandescence mother, i am mad perhaps explanations friends come to joan confession in populated air

Next (1987)

we are all next

album winnie song there what spells raccoon to me this belief why some people be mad at me sometimes sorrow song I. at creation I. at gettysburg I. at nagasaki I. at jonestown atlantic is a sea of bones cruelty. don’t talk to me about cruelty the woman in the camp the lost women 4 daughters grown daughter here is another bone to pick with you female if our grandchild be a girl this is the tale my dream about being white my dream about the cows my dream about time my dream about falling my dream about the second coming my dream about God my dream about the poet morning mirror

or next

the death of crazy horse crazy horse names his daughter crazy horse instructs the young men but in their grief they forget the message of crazy horse the death of thelma sayles lives the message of thelma sayles the death of joanne c. enter my mother leukemia as white rabbit incantation chemotherapy she won’t ever forgive me the one in the next bed is dying leukemia as dream/ritual the message of jo chorus: lucille the death of fred clifton “i’m going back to my true identity” my wife the message of fred clifton

singing

in white america

1 i come to read them poems 2 the history 3 the tour 4 the hall 5 the reading 6 it is late

shapeshifter poems

1 the legend is whispered 2 who is there to protect her 3 if the little girl lies 4 the poem at the end of the world

california lessons

1 geography 2 history 3 botany 4 semantics 5 metaphysics

quilting (1991)

quilting log cabin

i am accused of tending to the past note to myself poem beginning in no and ending in yes february 11, 1990 at the cemetery, walnut grove plantation, south carolina, 1989 slave cabin, sotterly plantation, maryland, 1989 white lady memo reply whose side are you on? shooting star poem with rhyme in it eyes defending my tongue

catalpa flower

from the wisdom of sister brown the birth of language we are running what the grass knew nude photograph this is for the mice that live sleeping beauty a woman who loves man and wife poem in praise of menstruation peeping tom ways you are not like oedipus the killing of the trees questions and answers november 21, 1988 the beginning of the end of the world the last day

eight-pointed star

wild blessings somewhere when i stand around among poets water sign woman photograph grandma, we are poets december 7, 1989 to my friend, jerina lot’s wife 1988 fat fat water rat poem to my uterus to my last period wishes for sons the mother’s story in which i consider the fortunate deaf 4/25/89 late as he was dying night sound the spirit walks in after the reading moonchild

tree of life

oh where have you fallen to remembering the birth of lucifer whispered to lucifer eve’s version lucifer understanding at last the garden of delight adam thinking eve thinking the story thus far lucifer speaks in his own voice

prayer

blessing the boats

The Book of Light (1992)

LIGHT reflection

climbing june 20 daughters sam my lost father thel imagining bear c.c. rider 11/10 again she lived for roddy them and us the women you are accustomed to song at midnight won’t you celebrate with me

lightning bolt

it was a dream each morning i pull myself here yet be dragons the yeti poet returns to his village to tell his story crabbing the earth is a living thing move samson predicts from gaza the philadelphia fire january 1991 dear jesse helms, if i should further note to clark begin here night vision fury cigarettes final note to clark note, passed to superman the rough weight of it

splendor

seeker of visions nothing about the moment atlas sarah’s promise naomi watches as ruth sleeps cain leda 1 leda 2 leda 3 far memory brothers

Uncollected Poems (1993)

hometown 1993 ones like us

The Terrible Stories (1996)

telling our stories 1. A Dream of Foxes

fox the coming of fox dear fox leaving fox one year later a dream of foxes

2. From the Cadaver

amazons lumpectomy eve consulting the book of changes: radiation 1994 scar hag riding down the tram rust from the cadaver

3. A Term in Memphis

shadows slaveships entering the south the mississippi river empties into the gulf old man river the son of medgar auction street memphis what comes after this blake

4. In the Meantime

evening and my dead once husband memory my sanctified grandmother lee album what did she know, when did she know it in the same week heaven lorena in the meantime

5. From the Book of David

dancer son of jesse david has slain his ten thousands to michal enemies beloved bathsheba the prophet oh absalom my son my son david, musing what manner of man

Blessing the Boats (2000)

new poems

the times signs moonchild dialysis donor libation the photograph: a lynching jasper texas 1998 alabama 9/15/63 what i think when i ride the train praise song august study the masters lazarus (first day) lazarus (second day) lazarus (third day) birthday 1999 grief report from the angel of eden

Mercy (2004)

last words

the gift out of body dying last words oh antic God april after one year sonku children

stories

surely i am able to write poems mulberry fields the river between us cancer in the mirror blood a story mercy here rests after oz the Phantom Powell walking the blind dog hands wind on the st. marys river the tale the shepherds tell the sheep stop

september song a poem in 7 days

1 tuesday 9/11/01 2 wednesday 9/12/01 3 thursday 9/13/01 4 friday 9/14/01 5 saturday 9/15/01 6 sunday morning 9/16/01 7 monday sundown 9/17/01

the message from The Ones (received in the late 70s) beginning of message

your mother sends you this come to here you we are ones in the saying of we are here why should we wander bone yards some of you have been blessed you come to teach in the geometry we god the angels have no wings you who feel yourself you wish to speak of you are not the universe requires the worlds you have placed yourselves whether in spirit the air the patience what has been made there is a star

end of message

Voices (2008)

hearing

“marley was dead to begin with” aunt jemima uncle ben cream of wheat horse prayer raccoon prayer dog’s god albino mataoka witko what haunts him my grandfather’s lullaby “you have been my tried and trusted friend” lu 1942 sorrows

being heard

this is what i know my father hasn’t come back dad faith afterblues the dead do dream “in 1844 explorers John Fremont and Kit Carson discovered Lake Tahoe” mirror 6/27/06 in amira’s room for maude highway 89 toward tahoe

ten oxherding pictures

a meditation on ten oxherding pictures 1st picture searching for the ox 2nd picture seeing the traces 3rd picture seeing the ox 4th picture catching the ox 5th picture herding the ox 6th picture coming home on the ox’s back 7th picture the ox forgotten leaving the man alone 8th picture the ox and the man both gone out of sight 9th picture returning to the origin back to the source 10th picture entering the city with bliss-bestowing hands end of meditation note

Uncollected Poems (2006–2010)

Book of Days (2006)

birth-day godspeak: out of paradise lucifer morning-star to man-kind after the fall: in like kind man-kind: in image of angelspeak mother-tongue: the land of nod mother-tongue: to the child just born mother-tongue: after the child’s death mother-tongue: after the flood the rainbow bears witness nineveh: waiting mother-tongue: babylon mother-tongue: to man-kind godspeak mother-tongue: we are dying mother-tongue: in a dream before she died sodom and gomorrah prodigal man-kind: over the jordan, into the promised land lucifer morning-star armageddon man-kind: digging a trench to hell godspeak: kingdom come

Last Poems & Drafts (2006–2010)

6/27/06 seventy (2008) some points along some of the meridians (2007) untitled (2006) she leans out from the mirror (2006) Titled (2006) new orleans (2006) after the children died she started bathing (2007) haiku (2008) An American Story (2008) God Bless America (2008) In the middle of the Eye (2010)

won’t you celebrate with me: the poetry of Lucille Clifton Lucille Clifton Bibliography Index of Poems About the Co-Editors About Lucille Clifton Colophon

← Prev
Back
Next →

← Prev
Back
Next →