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Lucille Clifton (1936–2010) published numerous poetry collections, including the National Book Award winner Blessing the Boats and The Terrible Stories, nominated for the National Book Award, as well as Good Woman: Poems and a Memoir 1969–1980 and Two-Headed Woman, both nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. Her many honors include an Emmy, and she was elected a chancellor of the Academy of American Poets in 1999. Clifton served as poet laureate of Maryland and was a Distinguished Professor of Humanities at St. Mary’s College, Maryland.

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  • The Book of Light

    by Lucille Clifton
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    night vision

    the girl fits her body in
    to the space between the bed
    and the wall. she is a stalk,
    exhausted. she will do some
    thing with this. she will
    surround these bones with flesh.

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    Reader Comments

    • Oh, how marvelous. Lucille Clifton's words roar at times, and others...
    • The world is a lesser place without Lucille Clifton--we poets owe...
    • Oh, how I love the mind of this woman! Clifton has...
    • Beautiful. I wish I could write like that some day!...
    • Vintage Clifton---right to the marrow of things. Graceful, too....

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