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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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won’t you celebrate with me

by Lucille Clifton
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won’t you celebrate with me
what i have shaped into
a kind of life? i had no model.
born in babylon
both nonwhite and woman
what did i see to be except myself?
i made it up
here on this bridge between
starshine and clay,
my one hand holding tight
my other hand; come celebrate
with me that every day
something has tried to kill me
and has failed.

From Book of Light (Copper Canyon Press, 1993).


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  • This is very nice poem. It pretty much says what so...

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