Yes. Strong. Bare-bones simple. Open-hearted. Wide-hearted. Highly recommended. I liked all of this collection, particularly a series at the end called a meditation on ten oxherding pictures. The images she refers to are here (in the far left column, the ones by Kuoan Shiyuan, 101 explication here).
I love how she interpreted these pictures, how her work is so quiet and understated, yet so forceful.
Exactly. And she does excel at short sequences, too.
I may splurge for the ‘complete poems’ next..!
Yes, I’ve been eying that, too. Then I could give away all the individual books to deserving friends. (Her memoir — Good Woman, I think it’s called? — was also very interesting. Her female ancestors actually preserved a tradition about Africa, and would tell their daughters to behave and be proud: “You from Dahomey women!”)
“Good Woman: Poems and a Memoir 1969-1980″ is the title – yes, it does look very interesting, thanks for the mention.
[...] the wonderful poetry of Lucille Clifton over at Very Like A Whale, I found some of her readings online. In this Poetry [...]