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Lucille Clifton

Lucille Clifton was born Thelma Lucille Sayles on June 27, 1936, in Depew, New York, to Samuel and Thelma Moore Sayles. Her father worked in a steel mill and her mother was a launderer. Though neither of her parents had

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Featured Poem

5/23/67 R.I.P.

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2<author>
3  <person id="2409" sex="2" role="author">
4    <name>
5      <firstname>Lucille</firstname>
6      <lastname>Clifton</lastname>
7    </name>
8    <life-events>
9      <date ty="birth" circa="false" suffix="ad">1936</date>
10      <text-value>(1936–2010)</text-value>
11    </life-events>
12    <biography>y</biography>
13  </person>
14</author>
15

Poets Book of Days

October 17

Les Murray born, 1938

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Poetry Trivia

Question:

Why did Laura (Riding) Jackson renounce writing poetry in 1938?

Answer

Ostensibly (Riding) Jackson pursued writing a dictionary that sought the original meaning of language, something she had sought in her poetry. Over twenty years later, in 1961, (Riding) Jackson began to address publicly her reasons for renouncing poetry. She wrote of how the aesthetic concerns of poetry interfered with expressing the totality of meaning inherent in language and modern society.

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