Tag Archives: Lucille Clifton

Dancing in the Face of Darkness

By Robin Bates | Published: April 11, 2022

In “Evening Sun,” poet Kenyon remembers a life-affirming moment as a child that would bolster her as an adult.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "man who killed the bear", "Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day", "Evening Sun", Jane Kenyon, sorrow | Comments closed

Join in the Joyful Symphony

By Robin Bates | Published: April 9, 2022

Two Palm Sunday poems, by Lucille Clifton and Henry Vaughan, emphasize the vegetation imagery.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Henry Vaughan, Palm Sunday | Comments closed

Lucille Clifton on Turning Red

By Robin Bates | Published: March 28, 2022

Pixar’s “Turning Red” brings to mind a series of Lucille Clifton poems where she too looks at the red dimensions of womanhood–and how to handle them.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "poem in praise of menstruation", "to my last period", "the way it was", adolescence, Turning Red | Comments closed

A Love Poem Flavored with Salt

By Robin Bates | Published: February 14, 2022

Clifton’s “salt” works as a Valentine’s Day poem, but not a normal one.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Valentine's Day | Comments closed

Lit as a Life Survival Kit

By Robin Bates | Published: February 10, 2022

When I teach literature, I emphasize application first, interpretation second.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Diving into the Wreck", "Knight" Donald Trump, "Knight", "what the mirror said", Adrienne Rich, Mary Oliver | Comments closed

Black Poetry–Next on the Right’s List?

By Robin Bates | Published: January 31, 2022

Many iconic African American poems could discomfit certain white audiences. Will the right target those as well as black history?

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "i am accused of tending to the past", "Ballad of Birmingham", "Last Quatrain of the Ballad of Emmett Till", "Song for a Dark Girl", African American History Month, censorship, Dudley Randall, Gwendolyn Brooks, Langston Hughes, racism | Comments closed

Are the Liberal Arts Automatically Liberal?

By Robin Bates | Published: January 19, 2022

Literature, in the current climate, cannot help but be seen as political. That’s because it urges us to consider other views.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "note to self", "grandma we are poets", Critical Race Theory, Liberal arts education, Othello, rightwing radicalism, William Shakespeare | Comments closed

The Lesson of the Falling Leaves

By Robin Bates | Published: October 16, 2021

Clifton has written simple but powerful poems about letting go, including this autumnal poem.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "lesson of the falling leaves", Autumn, letting go | Comments closed

Remembering 9-11 in Poetry

By Robin Bates | Published: September 9, 2021

On September 11, 2001 and for six days after, Lucille Clifton wrote a series of poems reflecting on the meaning of the attack.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged 9-11, 9-11 poems | Comments closed