If Maama

[if mama / could see]
By Lucille Clifton


EnglishAuthor: Lucille Clifton1936–2010

Lucille Clifton was born on June 27, 1936 in Depew, New York, and educated at Howard University.  After a long battle with cancer,Lucille Clifton died on February 13, 2010, at the age of 73 in Baltimore, Maryland 
A prolific and widely respected poet, Lucille Clifton's work emphasizes endurance and strength through adversity,focusing particularly on African-American experience and family life.  Clifton was the first author to have two books of poetry chosen as finalists for the Pulitzer Prize.  In addition to her numerouspoetry collections, she has written many children's books. Clifton is a Distinguished Professor of Humanities at St. Mary's College of Maryland and a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets. Herfirst book of poems, Good Times, was rated one of the best books of the year by the New York Times in 1969.
Clifton remained employed in state and federal government positions until 1971, when shebecame a writer in residence at Coppin State College in Baltimore, Maryland, where she completed two collections: Good News about the Earth (1972) and An Ordinary Woman (1974). Her honors include an EmmyAward from the American Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, a Lannan Literary Award, two fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Shelley Memorial Award, the YM-YWHA PoetryCenter Discovery Award, and the 2007 Ruth Lilly Prize. In 1999, she was elected a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets. She has served as Poet Laureate for the State of Maryland and DistinguishedProfessor of Humanities at St. Mary's College of Maryland.

[if mama / could see] By Lucille Clifton

if mama
could see
she would see   
lucy sprawling   
limbs of lucy
decorating the
backs...