The Collected Poems of Lucille Clifton 1965-2010 (American Poets Continuum) Hardcover – August 28, 2012

My sister, a poet, insisted I buy and read this book. I’m so glad I listened. I whined a bit about the weight, but I learned, or relearned, to enjoy reading sitting up instead of horizontal in bed.In all the poems, there was not one I did not like, and many I liked very much. Several times, something she said, the somehow of her saying it, flipped a switch in my mind, and I put the book down, and wrote poems because of her work. Not copies, not even similar, not even on the same topic, but her words, her beauty, spurred me to write.I am so sorry I will not have the opportunity to meet her, to take a class from her, to tell her ‘Thank You’ for so much beauty, so much song, so much life, in person. I am so grateful I have this wonderful book. Kevin Young did a marvelous job putting it together.

This pandemic has caused so many of us to spend our time differently. While I have always read a great deal. I had not been a fan of most poets as it was just not meaningful to me.The events of May 2020 that focused BLM introduced me to the work and lives of poets including Langston Hughes and Lucille Clifton.This particular text by Lucille Clifton contains hundreds of poems and stories of different lengths and messages. They caused me to reflect and pause - I thought our generation had done better in civil rights than it obviously has.I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this collection as a gift or for yourself.John J Hogan

Extraordinary collection of poems by this gifted writer.

This is a great collection of poems! I was browsing Amazon and it just popped right out at me. There is a deepness of thought in her writing. She is very adept at describing the Black Experience. Buy it, you won’t be disappointed. The only downside is that they put one poem on each page, and most of her poems are short.

She was an amazing woman and an outstanding poet. Her work will live on. She will not be forgotten.

This marvelous volume collects all of Lucille Clifton's published books, and adds a generous helping of uncollected and previously unpublished ones. I've just spent a few days reading through all of them, being reminded of old friends and anthology pieces and discovering new favorites.Clifton's poems are accessible, compact, insightful, and meet any reasonable set of criteria for great and satisfying poetry. Sure, there is a section of those ouija board poems, but you can either pass over them or skim them. It's interesting that Clifton's ouija board had a poetic voice and set of concerns not unlike her own.The only things you need to add to complete your Clifton collection are the prose autobiography in A Good Woman and a selection of her children's books (if you like that form at all).Don't hesitate. Just buy the book and be comforted, challenged, sung to, filled with new insights, and delighted.We will not see her like again.

Lucille Clifton was a brilliant American poet, so I wanted her collected works. I wasn't expecting this doorstop of a book, which weighs several pounds at least and takes up more shelf space than my "Collected Works of William Shakespeare". Let' s just say there is a lot of white space between the poems. Nonetheless - happy to have it.

Lucille Clifton was so generous with her time and her students. This is the book of poems I return to over and over. it sitson my coffee table so I can browse and read her poems often. She celebrates life, courage over defeat, and if you love poetry, listen to her read on youtube. She was an expressive reader of her poems, "won't you celebrate with me/what i have shaped into/a kind of life?" She had no models. But her life is now a model for others.

love Lucille Clifton ❤

Didn't think I could adore Clifton more than I already did, but going through this book, finding familiar poems and memorized verses arranged inbetween less familiar and completely unknown ones gave me a whole new appreciation for her life and work. Not to mention the loss the literary community suffered with her passing.These poems, collected side by side on over 700 pages are intimidating, scary, and heartbreakingly beautiful at the same time.