Others are devastatingly clear, such as the brilliant 'why some people be mad at me sometimes': Her free verse, lower-case poems are deceptively simple, and often her complex arrangement of images reward careful re-readings. Other poems take on a more mythic feel, for instance extended sequences of poems about Lucifer, Adam, Eve and the Garden of Eden. She is also deeply concerned with the oppression of African-American people, from slavery to lynching. I already knew and liked a few of Clifton's poems (including the title poem) but this book offered the chance to explore her work more fully.Ĭlifton is a poet of tremendous range many of her poems are intensely personal and often explore the female body, whether drawing on her experiences of cancer, menstruation or pregnancy. In 2006, she was a fellow at Dartmouth College.Ĭlifton received the Robert Frost Medal for lifetime achievement posthumously, from the Poetry Society of America.Ĭomprising selections from different collections between 19, Lucille Clifton's 'Blessing the Boats' won a National Book Award for Poetry when it was first published in the US, so its publication by Penguin is a welcome addition to their Modern Classics series. From 1995 to 1999, she was a visiting professor at Columbia University. She was Distinguished Professor of Humanities at St. In 2000, she won the National Book Award for Poetry, for her work 'Poems Seven'.įrom 1985 to 1989, Clifton was a professor of literature and creative writing at the University of California, Santa Cruz. In 1976, Generations: A Memoir was published. Clifton's foray into writing for children began with Some of the Days of Everett Anderson, published in 1970.

She has since been nominated twice for the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry and has been honored as Maryland's Poet Laureate. Good Times, her first book of poems, was published in 1969. She started Howard University on scholarship as a drama major but lost the scholarship two years later. She was the first person in her family to finish high school and attend college. Common topics in her poetry include the celebration of her African American heritage, and feminist themes, with particular emphasis on the female body. Lucille Clifton was an American poet, writer, and educator from New York.

Blessing the Boats by Lucille Clifton