Lucille Clifton 1936-2010

Lucille Clifton wrote as close to the bone as a poet can. She cut away much punctuation, all ornament and everything else that was superfluous to the task at hand. Her poems often had the rhythm of speech, but it was speech as one wishes speech could be. 

She deserves better than I can give her here and better than the obituaries that will give the broad contours of her life and list her many accomplshments. She deserves to be read--intensely and with great care, which is the way she wrote, and the way she lived.


Poetry Collections
Blessing the Boats: New and Selected Poems, 1988-2000 /
The Book of Light /
Good Woman: Poems and a Memoir / 
Complete Bibliography / 

Children's Books
The Boy Who Didn't Believe in Spring / (Also in Spanish: El niño que no creía en la primavera)
Everett Anderson's 1-2-3 /
Everett Anderson's Christmas Coming / 
Everett Anderson's Goodbye /

Books about Lucille Clifton
Wild Blessings: The Poetry of Lucille Clifton / Hilary Holladay
Lucille Clifton: Her Life and Letters / Mary Jane Lupton

Obituaries and Related Links
Baltimore Sun obituary
New York Times obituary 
Lucille Clifton links and Bio (Poetry Foundation)
"She Could Tell You Stories: A Conversation about Names, Race and the Need for Mirrors"