Most Popular Books by Lucille Clifton

With a powerful introduction by Ross Gay and a moving afterword by Sidney Clifton, this special anniversary edition of The Book of Light offers new meditations and insights on one of the most beloved voices of the 20th century. Though The Book of Light opens with thirty-nine names for light, we soon learn the most meaningful name is Lucille—daughter, mother, proud Black woman. Known for her ability to convey multitudes in few words, Clifton writes into the shadows—her father’s violations, a Black neighborhood bombed, death, loss—all while illuminating the full spectrum of human emotion: grief and celebration, anger and joy, empowerment and so much grace. A meeting place of myth and the Divine, The Book of Light exists “between starshine and clay” as Clifton’s personas allow us to bear the world’s weight with Atlas and witness conversations between Lucifer and God. While names and dates mark this text as a social commentary responding to her time, it is haunting how easily this collection serves as a political palimpsest of today. We leave these poems inspired—Clifton shows us Superman is not our hero. Our hero is the Black female narrator who decides to live. And what a life she creates! “Won’t you celebrate with me?”

Winner of the 2013 Hurston/Wright Legacy Award for Poetry "The Collected Poems of Lucille Clifton 1965-2010 may be the most important book of poetry to appear in years."--Publishers Weekly "All poetry readers will want to own this book; almost everything is in it."--Publishers Weekly "If you only read one poetry book in 2012, The Collected Poems of Lucille Clifton ought to be it."—NPR "The ''Collected Clifton'' is a gift, not just for her fans...but for all of us."--The Washington Post "The love readers feel for Lucille Clifton—both the woman and her poetry—is constant and deeply felt. The lines that surface most frequently in praise of her work and her person are moving declarations of racial pride, courage, steadfastness."—Toni Morrison, from the Foreword The Collected Poems of Lucille Clifton 1965–2010 combines all eleven of Lucille Clifton''s published collections with more than fifty previously unpublished poems. The unpublished poems feature early poems from 1965–1969, a collection-in-progress titled the book of days (2008), and a poignant selection of final poems. An insightful foreword by Nobel Prize–winning author Toni Morrison and comprehensive afterword by noted poet Kevin Young frames Clifton''s lifetime body of work, providing the definitive statement about this major America poet''s career. On February 13, 2010, the poetry world lost one of its most distinguished members with the passing of Lucille Clifton. In the last year of her life, she was named the first African American woman to receive the $100,000 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize honoring a US poet whose "lifetime accomplishments warrant extraordinary recognition," and was posthumously awarded the Robert Frost Medal for lifetime achievement from the Poetry Society of America. "mother-tongue: to man-kind" (from the unpublished the book of days): all that I am asking is that you see me as something more than a common occurrence, more than a woman in her ordinary skin.

Finalist for the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry A landmark collection by National Book Award-winning poet Lucille Clifton, Good Woman: Poems and a Memoir 1969-1980 includes the four poetry collections that launched Clifton’s career—Good Times, Good News About the Earth, An Ordinary Woman, and Two-Headed Woman—as well as her haunting prose memoir, Generations. In honor of the 30th anniversary of Lucille Clifton''s Pulitzer Prize-nominated poetry collection and memoir, Good Woman is now available for the first time as a deluxe eBook edition. Enhanced with previously unpublished photographs from the Lucille Clifton Estate and a special foreword by Aracelis Girmay, this eBook is a must-have for longtime Clifton fans and newcomers alike.

A moving family biography in which the poet traces her family history back through Jim Crow, the slave trade, and all the way to the women of the Dahomey people in West Africa. Buffalo, New York. A father’s funeral. Memory. In Generations, Lucille Clifton’s formidable poetic gift emerges in prose, giving us a memoir of stark and profound beauty. Her story focuses on the lives of the Sayles family: Caroline, “born among the Dahomey people in 1822,” who walked north from New Orleans to Virginia in 1830 when she was eight years old; Lucy, the first black woman to be hanged in Virginia; and Gene, born with a withered arm, the son of a carpetbagger and the author’s grandmother. Clifton tells us about the life of an African American family through slavery and hard times and beyond, the death of her father and grandmother, but also all the life and love and triumph that came before and remains even now. Generations is a powerful work of determination and affirmation. “I look at my husband,” Clifton writes, “and my children and I feel the Dahomey women gathering in my bones.”

Overview: Winner of the 2000 National Book Award for Poetry, Blessing the Boats: New and Selected Poems 1988-2000 is the culminating achievement of Lucille''s Clifton longstanding poetry career. This long-awaited collection by one of the most distinguished poets writing today includes poems written during the past four years as well as generous selections from Lucille Clifton''s award-winning collections Next: New Poems, Quilting and The Terrible Stories. Clifton employs brilliantly honed language, stunning images and sharp rhythms to address the whole of human experience. Hers is a poetry that is passionate and wise, not afraid to confront our most salient issues.

There is nothing Tee enjoys more than sitting out on the porch with her great-greatmother, listening to the fascinating stories about the lucky stone. Shiny and black as night, it brought good fortune to each of its owners for over one hundred years. First it helped Mandy, a runaway slave, win her freedom. Then it saved Vashti from death by lightning at a prayer meeting. And it even saved Tee''s great-grandmother from the ferocious dancing dog and helped her meet her husband. Now Tee can''t help wondering what the old stone has in store for her. She certainly could use some luck on Valentine''s Day. But the lucky stone doesn''t belong to Tee. How can her wish come true?

A new collection by the National Book Award winner and one of America''s most beloved poets.

Two skeptical city boys set out to find spring which they''ve heard is "just around the corner."

A little black boy tries to find out where his people are from.

In her tenth collection of verse, Clifton covers new terrain -- cancer and mastectomy, the life of King David, encounters with a vixen fox who is both shaman and muse. Employing brilliantly honed language, stunning images and sharp rhythms, hers is a poetry passionate and wise, not afraid to rage, whisper or spin into humor. the terrible stories was a National Book Award Finalist.

Everett Anderson has a difficult time coming to terms with his grief after his father dies.

A collection of poems by the author divided into sections: Log Cabin; Catalpa Flower; Eight-pointed Star; Tree of Life; Prayer.

A poem for each letter of the alphabet introduces brief discussions of the contributions of black people to American history and culture.

When her five-year-old brother decides to run away from home, Johnny is glad--at first.

Sonora laments the peculiarities of her life.

"Bouncy verses and attractive pictures present the latest events in the life of [Everett] who has lots of friends among small readers." --Publishers Weekly

"A series of poems drawn from various collections published throughout the 40-year career of American poet Lucille Clifton"--

"Find a penny on New Year''s Day with your birthday year on it, and you can make three wishes on it and the wishes will come true! It happened to me," explains Nobie. As each of Nobie''s wishes comes true, she discovers the really important things in life in this story of faith and friendship.

Everett Anderson wonders how he can help his friend Greg, who appears to be a victim of child abuse.

"Mama, Mama. Tell us about when you was a girl . . . tell us one of them stories about the olden days. So begins this tender story, set in 1948, when Satchel Paige was in the majors, Ralph Bunche was at the U.N., and each evening Sooky and her family turned on the radio to listen to "Amos ''n'' Andy. Uncle Sunny, a veteran of the 92nd Division in World War II-it was his time, too. But mostly it was Sooky''s time, as she sat on the curb with her best friend Tallahassie May Scott in the dusky summer nights, waiting for the street lights to go on. That summer Sooky was 12 years old and got her first pair of wedgies, and sin broke all out in her best friend''s body because she wasn''t saved.

Nine poems describe a small boy''s preparations for Christmas.

A small boy and his family anticipate the birth of their newest member.

A young boy tells about Jacob, who, though older and mentally slower, helps him a lot and is his very best friend.

Nine poems about a boy who likes to play in the rain, is not afraid of the dark, and sometimes feels lonely.

A perceptive story of how a young boy adjusts to the new man in his single mother''s life. ""One can be lonely and One can be fun, and""Two can be awful or perfect for some, and""Three can be crowded or can be just right or""even too many, you have to decide."" One can have fun alone, thinks Everett Anderson. And when it''s just Everett and his mama-well, two is fine, too. But three . . . Everett tries to understand why Mama and Mr. Perry like to spend so much time together, although it''s hard, at first.

A poem for each month of the year reflects the major and minor events in the life of a young boy.

Fearful that his father won''t remember him after being away in the army, little Amifika looks for a place to hide.