Latest / Legacy Living with Dr. Gloria Burgess / Lucille Clifton—Lighting the Way | Episode #444

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Lucille Clifton—Lighting the Way | Episode #444 · Legacy Living with Dr. Gloria Burgess

• 0:21
  Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to today's show, Legacy Living, Make Your
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: Life Count. I'm your host, Doctor Gloria. Gloria Burgess, passionate
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: inspirational speaker, author, poet, and entrepreneur. Welcome to Legacy Living,
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: Make your Life Count. I'm delighted that you joined me.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: I want to give a great big thank you to
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: those of you listening in today. I also want to
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: give a great big shout out to all of you
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: listening all around the world. I'm delighted and so grateful
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: that you tuned in. I sure hope you're enjoying a
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: fabulous day to day and that you're having a fantastic week,
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: because you know what, in the grand song of the universe,
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: life is very very short. It's short and sweet and
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: oh so precious. So I hope you're making a difference
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: in your own life, because when you do, you also
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: make a difference in someone else's life. Now, a lot
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: of us, a lot of folks really want to make
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: their life count for something, but they don't know quite
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: how to do it, and it seems so big to
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: them that they don't even know where to begin. So
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: they ask me, doctor Gloria, how do you do that?
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: How do you make your life count? Well, it's really
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: very simple, very very simple. You make your life count
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: day by day, step by step, moment by moment, every
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: single day three sixty five twenty four seven. You make
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: your life count by being there for somebody who needs
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: the sweet fragrance of your presence, By the simple loving
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: things that you do for someone or say to someone.
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: By being an encourager, by being an uplifter. Maybe it's
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: by making dinner, or maybe buying flowers or running a
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: warm bath for your wife or husband, just because, by
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: being grateful for who you are, being grateful for family
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: and friends, and counting your blessings. Now that's just nine
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: or ten different ways to make your life count. It
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: doesn't have to be written in headlines across the sky,
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  Speaker 1: does it. You can make your life count just by
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: doing the simple things, the small things, the things that
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: will move someone else's heart. That's what legacy living Make
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: your Life Count is all about. You can learn more
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: about legacy living Make your life count by visiting the
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: Gloria Burgess website. That's Gloria Burgess g l O R
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  Speaker 1: I A B as in boy you are g E
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  Speaker 1: S S dot com. Just take a look around the website,
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: and you know, notice a few of the things that
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: are on there, and you'll get a better sense of
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: who I am and what legacy living is all about. Now,
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: that's the Gloria Burgess website. G L O R I
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  Speaker 1: A B as in boy you are g E S
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  Speaker 1: S dot com or by visiting Facebook at Facebook dot com.
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: Forward slash d R for doctor d R Gloria Burgess
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  Speaker 1: p h D forward slash all Right, today's show is
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: an honor of a wonderful a wonderful poet and author,
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  Speaker 1: Lucille Clifton. She's an incredible writer and an amazing human being. Now,
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: as many of you know, during the month of February
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: in the United States, we celebrate Black History Months or
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: Black Heritage Months as we sometimes call it. Well, you
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: know me, I like to celebrate the lives of African Americans,
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: the soulful music of black lives, every single day, not
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  Speaker 1: just the twenty eight days in February, every single day,
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  Speaker 1: three sixty five, twenty four to seven. So who is
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: who is Lucille Clifton? Well, as I mentioned just a
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  Speaker 1: few moments ago, she's an incredible poet and she's also
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  Speaker 1: an amazing human being. I had the privilege and the
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  Speaker 1: honor of meeting Miss Clifton, not once, but several times.
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  Speaker 1: I first met her at the Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival,
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  Speaker 1: which is held every other year on the East Coast.
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  Speaker 1: I also met her at the Scadget River Poetry Festival,
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  Speaker 1: which is also held every other year. Now these are
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: sister poetry festivals, the Dodge Festival and the s. Gadget Festival,
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  Speaker 1: and these two celebrations are actually held on alternate years. Now.
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  Speaker 1: When I first met Miss Lucille, I was struck. I
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: was struck by how ordinary she was. Now I don't
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  Speaker 1: mean ordinary in a negative kind of way, not at all.
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  Speaker 1: I actually mean it as a very high compliment. Lucille
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  Speaker 1: was ordinary in the way she looked, the way she walked,
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  Speaker 1: the way she spoke, the tilt of her head, even
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  Speaker 1: the language she used. The words she used to introduce
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  Speaker 1: her poems, and the words she used in her poems
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  Speaker 1: spoke to me. They spoke to my core, just as
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  Speaker 1: clearly as an elder in my personal village would speak
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  Speaker 1: words of wisdom to me. The just right sized pearls
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  Speaker 1: that I could tuck into my pocket and take with
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  Speaker 1: me wherever I happened to go. From Lucille's words, I
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  Speaker 1: could actually imagine the streets she lived on, the house
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  Speaker 1: she lived in, the people she lived with, even the
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  Speaker 1: food she might have cooked for those people. Her people,
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  Speaker 1: her people were also my people. I could relate to
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  Speaker 1: Lucille as if she were one of my own, one
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  Speaker 1: of my own neighbors, one of my own aunties, one
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  Speaker 1: of my own sisters. Even right why because she was
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  Speaker 1: she was one of my own. Lucille was the kind
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  Speaker 1: of person I loved to meet, and I love to
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  Speaker 1: write at the kind of person who who dares, who
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  Speaker 1: dares to be fully and completely who they are inside
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  Speaker 1: and out. So in her honor, today's focus is dare
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  Speaker 1: to be you, dare to be you. Now, before I
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: die into today's show, I want to pause for just
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: a moment to welcome you. To welcome you, my listeners.
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: If you're just joining us, I'm your host, doctor Gloria.
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: Gloria Burgess. This is legacy living, make your life count,
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  Speaker 1: and I'd like to extend a very special welcome to
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: those of you who are joining my show, or if
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: you're joining Talk Network Radio for the very first time.
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  Speaker 1: Let me tell you you are in for a real treat.
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: I'm excited to have you listening in today, and I'm
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: deeply honored that you've allowed me to be part of
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: your so you can be inspired by the ideas and
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: resources to make your life count. Now once again, today's
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: topic is there to be you, and my focus today
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: is to pay tribute, to pay homage to miss Lucille
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  Speaker 1: Clifton as we lift up this prolific poet and writer. Now,
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: the best way to introduce Lucille Clifton is not through
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: the lens of the many awards and prizes and an
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: honorary degree she earned, or where she taught, or even
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: how many books she wrote, books of poetry and books
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: for children. Oh No, the best way to introduce Lucille
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: Clifton is through her own words, through her own poems.
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  Speaker 1: I remember that whenever I heard her read, she seemed
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: to really enjoy reading one of her best known poems.
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: Some of you may know it. It's called Homage to
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  Speaker 1: My Hips. Homage to my Hips. These hips are big hips.
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  Speaker 1: They need space to move around in. They don't fit
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  Speaker 1: into little petty places. These hips are free hips. They
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  Speaker 1: don't like to be held back. These hips have never
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  Speaker 1: been enslaved. They go where they want to go. They
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  Speaker 1: do what they want to do. These hips are mighty hips.
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  Speaker 1: These hips are magic hips. I have known them to
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  Speaker 1: put a spell on a man and spin him like
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  Speaker 1: a top. I just love this poem for so many reasons.
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  Speaker 1: I'm gonna read it again homage to my hips. These
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  Speaker 1: hips are big hips. They need space to move around in.
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  Speaker 1: They don't fit into little petty places. These hips are
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  Speaker 1: free hips. They don't like to be held back. These
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  Speaker 1: hips have never been enslaved. They go where they want
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  Speaker 1: to go. They do what they want to do. These hips,
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  Speaker 1: these hips are mighty hips. These hips are magic hips.
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  Speaker 1: I have known them to put a spell on a
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  Speaker 1: man and spend him like a top. I just love
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: Lucille and how she takes just a handful of words
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  Speaker 1: and makes incredible music and magic out of those words.
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  Speaker 1: I love this particular poem. It explores the body, a
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  Speaker 1: woman's body, in ways that we're not supposed to talk
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  Speaker 1: about all the time, right and certainly not in public,
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  Speaker 1: at least not when this poem was written. On another layer,
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  Speaker 1: this poem also addresses the body, the black body, not
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  Speaker 1: as a thing not as an object, not as something
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  Speaker 1: that was owned by another human being. Here Clifton lists
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  Speaker 1: up the body as asd and luscious, not as an object,
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  Speaker 1: mind you, but as an embodied aspect of womanhood and
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  Speaker 1: as someone who had stepped away from an identity of
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  Speaker 1: being owned, of being enslaved. Another one of my favorite
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  Speaker 1: poems by Miss Lucille is called Slaveships slave Ships. In
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: this poem, she calls the name of several slave ships
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  Speaker 1: that were used during the Middle Passage. Now, often the
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  Speaker 1: ships were named using Christian images and words from scripture.
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  Speaker 1: And for those of you who may not know what
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: the Middle Passage is, it's actually a term that we
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  Speaker 1: use that refers to a specific part of what is
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  Speaker 1: sometimes called the triangular route of the slave ship. So
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: imagine in a triangle. Okay, imagine a triangle, and the
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  Speaker 1: points of the triangle point to the geography of the
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  Speaker 1: slave trade. So at the top, you know that very
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  Speaker 1: first point of the triangle, at the top, we would
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  Speaker 1: refer to what is now known as the UK, the
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  Speaker 1: United Kingdom, Okay. And then the second point of the
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  Speaker 1: triangle points down to the west coast of Africa, all right,
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  Speaker 1: And then this point of the triangle crosses over Okay
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  Speaker 1: to the third point, and that geography is known as
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  Speaker 1: the America's North America, Central America, and South America. These
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  Speaker 1: were the destination points for the African people who were enslaved.
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  Speaker 1: So the Middle Passage is the name that we give
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  Speaker 1: to the middle part of the triangle, the part where
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  Speaker 1: the slave ships crossed the Atlantic Ocean from from Africa
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  Speaker 1: to the Americas. So Lucille says this about her poem Slaveships.
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  Speaker 1: She says, this is a poem about ships that went
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  Speaker 1: from the African continent and took free people and brought
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  Speaker 1: them to this continent where they were enslaved. Now, she
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  Speaker 1: goes on to say, I did not say that this
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  Speaker 1: was about ships that went to Africa and got's slaves
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  Speaker 1: and brought them here. And there is a difference, if
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  Speaker 1: you can feel it. Now. I noticed these names of
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  Speaker 1: slave ships, and I wanted to write about it. One
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  Speaker 1: of the ships was called Jesus, one was called Angel,
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  Speaker 1: and another was called Grace of God. So here's her poem,
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  Speaker 1: slave ships loaded like spoons into the belly of Jesus,
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  Speaker 1: where we lay for weeks for months in the sweat
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  Speaker 1: and stink of our own breathing Jesus, Why do you
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  Speaker 1: not protect us? Chained to the heart of the Angel,
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  Speaker 1: where the prayers we never tell, and hot and red
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  Speaker 1: as our bloody ankles, Jesus Angel, Can these be men
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  Speaker 1: who vomit us out from ships called Jesus Angel, grace
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  Speaker 1: of God onto a heathen country? Jesus Angel? Ever again,
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  Speaker 1: can this tongue speak? Can these bones walk? Grace of God?
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  Speaker 1: Can this sin.
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  Speaker 2: Live?
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  Speaker 1: Mercy? What do you say after a poem like that? Again,
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  Speaker 1: It's a mazing what Lucille can do with just a
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  Speaker 1: just a handful of words, a handful of ordinary words
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  Speaker 1: that she transforms into the extraordinary. It is beautiful poem.
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  Speaker 1: Asphodel William Carlos Williams says this, it is difficult to
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  Speaker 1: get the news from poems. It is difficult to get
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  Speaker 1: the news from poems, though men die miserably every day
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: for lack of what is found there. This little gem
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: about the news you can find inside poems is if
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: tucked deep inside of that poem. Asphodel, Lucille's poems remind
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: me that inside of every poem is a bit of news,
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  Speaker 1: news that shines the light on what it means to be,
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: to be human. Before her death in February twenty ten,
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  Speaker 1: Clifton was a Distinguished Professor of Humanities at Saint Mary's
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: College of Maryland. She also taught at Columbia University. Born
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: in Depew, New York, in nineteen thirty six to working
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: class parents, Lucille attended Howard University before she turned seventeen
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: years old. She was actually sixteen when she enrolled. Although
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: she was given the name Selma when she was born,
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: as a young woman, she changed her name to Lucille.
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  Speaker 1: Her given name of Selma was also her mother's name.
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  Speaker 1: Like Lucille, her mother was also a writer, a poet
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  Speaker 1: in her own right, whose gifts were unfortunately thwarted. In
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: her poem called Fury Fury, Clifton captures the essence of
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: her mother's experience. For Mamma Fury, remember this. She is
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: standing by the furnace. The coals glisten like rubies. Her hand,
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: her hand is crying. Her hand is clutching a sheaf
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  Speaker 1: of papers, poems. She gives them up. They burn jewels
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: into jewels. Her eyes are animals. Each hank of hair
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  Speaker 1: is a serpent's obedient wife. She will never recover. Remember,
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  Speaker 1: there is nothing you will not bear for this woman's sake.
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: Lucille Clifton's father and her mother had an elementary school education,
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: and her mother was also a poet, a poet with
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: a burning desire to write. In Lucille's own words, she says, once,
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: my mother got a letter from somebody who wanted to
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  Speaker 1: put her poems in a book, and my father wouldn't
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: let her do it. Now, now you frowned, because what
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: you know. Now she's talking here to Bill Moyers, who's
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: interviewing her. Okay, she continues, but let me tell you something.
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: In the forties and fifties, husbands thought they could do that.
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: Sometimes guys still try that now, Okay, it's not gonna
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: work for you, you know. And so what my mother
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: did was take her poems and she burned them. She
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: put them in a cold stove. And I was standing
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: on the steps down into the cellar when she did that.
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  Speaker 1: And this poem fury, This is a poem, and I understand.
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: I remembered that. I understand what fury and anger were.
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: Now again, this is Lucille talking to Bill Moyers. He
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: was interviewing her for his wonderful gem of a book
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: called The Language of Life. This book is all about poets, poetry,
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: and the craft of using language to reflect life, to
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: give us a window into life, into humanity. Lucille's poem
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: is very, very powerful. It is a poem that pays
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: homage to her mom. It's also a poem that uses
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  Speaker 1: a few Welsh words, like all of Clifton's poems do.
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: And in those few words, those few lines of poetry,
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: is this magnificent story told in miniature. This poet is
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: so so at the top of her craft, she can
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: convict us all in just a few short lines. And
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: at the core of this last poem, at the core
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  Speaker 1: this poem paints a vivid picture of her mom throwing
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: her poems into that batch of coals, into the fiery furnace.
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: But at the core of this poem are words and images.
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: It's a story about loyalty. Now, for Thelma Sayers, it's
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: about her poems, her creativity, and it's also about her
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: lord loyalty, about her loyalty, her stepfastness to being a
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: woman who accepted her husband's wishes. Now for us, maybe
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: it's about loyalty to work or loyalty to the past,
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: or to a place, or to a friendship, or to
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: a lifestyle. Perhaps maybe it's our loyalty to our friends
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: or a relationship that no longer nourish us. Maybe it's
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: work that no longer feeds us. Or maybe it's loyalty
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: to a way of living, a way of being, a
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: way of moving through the world that no longer serves us. Now,
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: what we don't often recognize is that on the other
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: side of loyalty is disloyalty. Okay, let me repeat that.
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: What we don't often recognize is that on the other
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: side of loyalty is disloyalty. And what do I mean
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: by that? Well, often, in order to be loyal to
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: something or someone or how we move through the world,
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: we have to give up something. We have to surrender something,
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: don't we We have to be disloyal to someone or
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: something else in order to be loyal. Now, many of
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: us are disloyal to our own creativity. I just spoke
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: with a woman this morning who called me. She said, Gloria,
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: I need some mentoring time. I need some mentoring time.
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: And what the conversation was all about, what disloyalty? Being
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: disloyal to our own creativity, and when we are, the
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: consequence is that we're disloyal to our own creative juices,
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: our own creative life. When we're loyal to someone or
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: something else, we often become disloyal to what has heart
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: and meaning for us. Here's the thing. We form habits,
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: well intentioned habits that make us obedient to one thing,
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: a way of life, a way of thinking, a way
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  Speaker 1: of being a spouse or a partner, our children sometimes right,
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: and in so doing we don't even realize the big
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: price tag that goes along with that choice. So what
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: is the price we pay? The price we pay is
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: being stuck, being stuck in old ways of thinking, in
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: unhealthy relationships and work that we have all grown. We
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: stay stuck in old, worn out habits and routines that
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: no longer fit us, that no longer provide oxygen for us,
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: habits and routines that no longer serve us. Well, that's
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: a different show, I know. Right now. Back to Lucille.
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: One of the many things I just love about Lucille,
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: that I just adore about her is her uncanny ability
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: to recognize the extraordinary in what others would see as ordinary.
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: She actually sees in a particular way, and she goes
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: the extra mile through her curiosity and then through her writing.
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: That's what artists do, that's what poets do, that's what
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: musicians do, that's what sculptors do. They go the extra mile.
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: They see in a very particular way, and then they
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: go the extra mile through their curiosity and whatever art
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: form they're working in. So by seeing the extraordinary in
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: the ordinary, Lucie feel makes a difference every single day
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: in her poems and in her children's books. This next
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: poem is one that came out of Lucille's experience of
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: visiting a plantation, visiting a plantation in South Carolina. Now,
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: for me, her experience and what she pours into the
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: poem is all about It's all about seeing, all about seeing.
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: And I just love how she reflects on an ordinary
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: experience that most of us would just take as a given.
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: We just kind of take it for granted, going on
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: in all plantation tour, right, But not Lucille. She senses
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: into her experience and this curious and as furious as
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: a terrier with the bone, she on Earth's and treasures,
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: Unearth's and treasures, what is quite extraordinary This next poem
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: is called at the Cemetery, Walnut Grove Plantation, South Carolina,
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: nineteen eighty nine. At the Cemetery, Walnut Grove Plantation, South Carolina,
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  Speaker 1: nineteen eighty nine. Among the rocks at Walnut Grove, your
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: silence drumming in my bones, Tell me your names. Nobody
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: mentioned slaves, and yet the curious tools shine with your
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: finger prints. Nobody mentioned slaves. But somebody did this work,
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: who had no guide, no stone, who molders under rock.
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: Tell me your names, Tell me your bashful names, and
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: I will testify. The inventory lists ten slaves, but only
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: men were recognized among the rocks at Walnut Grove. Some
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: of these honored dead were dark. Some of these dark
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  Speaker 1: were slaves. Some of these slaves were women. Some of
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: them did this honored work. Tell me your names, fore, mothers, brothers,
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  Speaker 1: tell me your dishonored names. Here lies here, lies here,
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: lies here, lies here. A prolific and widely respected poet
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: and writer, Lucille Clifton's work emphasizes endurance and strength and
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: resilience through adversity because she focuses on African American experience
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  Speaker 1: and life, and because she is so particular in that focus,
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: her work is universal in its appeal and its impact.
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: That's what good poetry does, so particular in its focus,
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: that it becomes universal, universal in its appeal and its impact.
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  Speaker 1: In fact, as they awarded the prestigious Ruth Lily Poetry
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: Prize to Clifton about ten years ago, the judges said,
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: one always feels the looming humaneness around Lucille Clifton's poems.
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: It is a moral quality that some poets have and
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: some don't. As I mentioned earlier, Lucille left this earth
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: about seven years ago. On February thirteenth, twenty ten, Lucille
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: Clifton died. I, for one, could not believe it. I
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: didn't want to believe it. My fellow poet and writer,
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: my sister friend, who when asked about the craft of poetry,
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: would craftily tell you stories instead. My sister friend passed
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: on after a long struggle with cancer. She crossed over
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: to the other side. About two weeks later. Bill Moyers
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: wrote a fitting tribute to her life and her work.
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: Here's what Moyers wrote. He says, the long arc of morality,
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: the long arc of morality that bends towards justice, leads
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: not only through the courthouse and the state House, but
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: out on the streets and in the pages of poetry
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: and prose. Luckily, for the rest of us, there are
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: writers who, in words both beautiful and bold, can expl
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: for us rage at injustice. But they don't stop there.
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: They help us experience sorrow and joy through an intimate
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: knowledge of tempestuous human nature. We lost one of those
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: gifted people the other day, one of our most popular poets,
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: my friend Lucille Clifton. Lucille Clifton's poetry, legendary for its
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: sparseness of word and punctuation, spoke unflinchingly of personal hardship,
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: the history of oppression, and the human condition. She was
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: a standout in several programs we meaning PBS, in several
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: programs we produced over the years on the Wonders of poetry.
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: Lucille Clifton learned to love language as a child to
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: poems written by her mother, a woman who never finished
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: grade school. Inheriting that love of language and the spirit
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: of her mom, Lucille Clifton wrote poetry of her own
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: twenty years before she was actually published, but with her
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: first collections of poems, she quickly gained recognition that just
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: kept growing over time. Over a long and prolific career,
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: Clifton published more than thirty books that probed the indignations
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: of slavery, celebrated the day to day events of life
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: and community, and chronicled with frank and poiant sensuality, the fragilties,
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: the frailties and pleasures of the human body. Lucille Clifton
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: was a two time finalist for the Pulitzer Prise in
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: the same something that had never happened before. In two thousand,
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: she received the National Book Award for her book of
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: poems called Blessing the Boats, New and Selected Poems, and
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: then in two thousand and seven, she became the first
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: African American woman to receive the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize,
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: one of America's most prestigious poetry honors. Lucille Clifton was
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: seventy three. Thank you, Bill Moyers for that amazing, amazing tribute.
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: I'll share one final poem with you today by Lucille Clifton,
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: one of my favorites, as we lift her up today
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: in honor of Black History Months, a very special month
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: when we celebrate the accomplishments the achievements, the mighty road
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: that blacks had. And you know I like to celebrate
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: Black history not only during the month of February, but
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: every single day three sixty five twenty four to seven.
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: This poem is fittingly called Won't you celebrate with me?
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: Won't you celebrate with me? Won't you celebrate with me?
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: What I have shaped into a kind of life. I
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: had no model, born in Babylon, both non white and woman.
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: What did I see to be except myself? I made
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: it up here on this bridge between Starshine and Clay,
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: my one hand holding tight other hand. Come celebrate with
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: me that every day something has tried to kill me
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: and has failed. Oh, miss Lucille, Miss Lucille, we lift
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: you up and celebrate you. We celebrate you each and
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: every single day. Thank you for teaching us how to dare,
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: to dare to be you. Now, if you missed any
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: part of today's broadcast, you can listen to the recording
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: at your own convenience. You can listen to it on
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: the goal. How about that. Check us out at www.
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: Dot talknetwork Radio dot com. Forward slash Legacy Living. That's www.
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: Dot talknetwork Radio dot com. Forward slash Legacy living L
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: E G A, C Y L I, D I N G,
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: all smushed together in one word. Before I close today,
• 40:32
  Speaker 1: I want to thank each of you for tuning in
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: to today's show, for allowing me to share a bit
• 40:39
  Speaker 1: of my journey with what legacy living is all about,
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: not just living and learning, but living and learning and
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: serving so that you make a difference in your own
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: life and in the lives of others. It's all about
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: being on purpose every single day. Three sixty five twenty.
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: Legacy living is one of the many ways to make
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: your life count. I'm your host, doctor Gloria Gloria Burgess,
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: and this has been Legacy Living. Make your life count.
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: Please join me again next week right here on Talk
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: Network Radio for another show of legacy living. Make your
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: life count. Don't just count the days in your life,
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: Make the days in your life count. That's what legacy
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: living is all about. Have a fantastic day, and remember,
• 41:37
  Speaker 1: make the days of your life count.
• 41:41
  Speaker 2: Godless, that's our show today.
• 41:55
  Speaker 3: I'm your host, doctor Gloria Gloria Burgess. I hope you'll
• 42:00
  Speaker 3: join me again next week. Until then, don't just count
• 42:04
  Speaker 3: the days in your life, make the days.
• 42:07
  Speaker 2: In your life account.
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: That's what legacy living is all about. Here's to you
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: have a fantastic day. Be sure to make it a
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: yes kind of day, and remember celebrate, celebrate the music
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: of your life.
• 42:26
  Speaker 3: Make the day in your life a count