The Collected Poems of Lucille Clifton 1965-2010 (American Poets Continuum_ --by Lucille Clifton, author and Kevin Young, editor (plus 2 ore_

Nonfiction / poetry

720 pages, Hardback (2.7 pounds)

5x5 stars

My sister, a poet, insisted I buy and read this book. I’m so glad I listened. I whined a bit about the weight, but I learned, or relearned, to enjoy reading sitting up instead of horizontal in bed.

In all the poems, there was not one I did not like, and many I liked very much. Several times, something she said, the somehow of her saying it, flipped a switch in my mind, and I put the book down, and wrote poems because of her work. Not copies, not even similar, not even on the same topic, but her words, her beauty, spurred me to write.

I am so sorry I will not have the opportunity to meet her, to take a class from her, to tell her ‘Thank You’ for so much beauty, so much song, so much life, in person. When I grow up, I want to be Lucille Clifton. I am so grateful I have this wonderful book. Kevin Young did a marvelous job putting it together.

When I grow up, I want to be Lucille Clifton