Lucille Clifton, Poet Who Explored Intricacies of Black Lives, Dies at 73

[Blue_Tires]

Lucille Clifton, a distinguished American poet whose work trained lenses wide and narrow on the experience of being black and female in the 20th century, exploring vast subjects like the indignities of history and intimate ones like the indignities of the body, died on Saturday in Baltimore. She was 73 and lived in Columbia, Md.

The precise cause of death had not been determined, her sister, Elaine Philip, told The Associated Press on Sunday. Ms. Clifton, who had cancer, had been hospitalized recently with an infection.

Ms. Clifton received a National Book Award in 2000 for “Blessing the Boats: New and Selected Poems, 1988-2000,” published by BOA Editions. In 2007, she became the first African-American woman to win the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, a $100,000 award that is one of American poetry’s signal honors.

Her book “Good Woman: Poems and a Memoir, 1969-1980” (BOA, 1987) was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry in 1988.

Besides producing a dozen volumes of poetry, Ms. Clifton wrote many well-received books of prose and verse for children that centered on the African-American experience.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/17/arts/17clifton.html

[EFerrari]

1. I somehow managed to miss this. But when it hits, it hits hard.

“oh antic God”

by Lucille Clifton


oh antic God
return to me
my mother in her thirties
leaned across the front porch
the huge pillow of her breasts
pressing against the rail
summoning me in for bed.

I am almost the dead woman’s age times two.

I can barely recall her song
the scent of her hands
though her wild hair scratches my dreams
at night. return to me, oh Lord of then
and now, my mother’s calling,
her young voice humming my name.

[bliss_eternal]

2. thanks for this...

:thumbsup:

may this talented artist rest in peace. her work shall live forever.

[Brewman_Jax]

3. Here's an NPR article on her

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124113507

[Lyric]

4. My whole department wept over this.

I posted it on the day she passed. We did a memorial reading of her poems and other AA feminist poets who created their art with and around her--a 24 vigil of nonstop poetry.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=258x9812

:cry: