Poet Lucille Clifton is widely acclaimed for her powerful explorations of race, womanhood, and spirituality. This June she was honored by the Furious Flower Poetry Center (James Madison University), which brought together more than 40 teachers and scholars to examine the National Book Award-winner’s lifetime of contributions to American poetry. Also: Hilary Holladay (Virginia Foundation for the Humanities) is the author of Wild Blessings: The Poetry of Lucille Clifton, the first full-length study of Clifton’s work.
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I had known Lucille Clifton for more than 15 years. She lived in the same town (Columbia, MD ) as I and was on the board of the Howard County Poetry and Literature Society (HoCoPoLitSo) (which I chaired) until her death, which occurred on our regular meeting day, the second Saturday of the month. She was an invaluable resource not only to HoCoPoLitSo, but also to American Literature.
She was a humble and generous human being whose poetry assuaged my sister and a cousin, both cancer victims to whom I gave one of her books that contained the poem, Won’t You Celebrate with Me? always with a book mark marking the place of the poem.