Latest / Legacy Living with Dr. Gloria Burgess / Come Celebrate with Me | Episode #495

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Come Celebrate with Me | Episode #495 · 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, because.
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: You know what, in the grand song of.
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: The universe, life is very very short. It's short and
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  Speaker 1: sweet and oh so precious. So I hope you're making
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: a difference in your own life, because when you do,
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  Speaker 1: you also make a difference in someone else's life. Now,
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: a lot of us, a lot of folks really want
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  Speaker 1: to make their life count for something, but they don't
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  Speaker 1: know quite how to do it, and it seems so
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  Speaker 1: big to them that they don't even know where to begin.
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  Speaker 1: So they ask me, doctor Gloria, how do you do that?
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  Speaker 1: How do you make your life count? Well, it's really
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  Speaker 1: very simple, very very simple. You make your life count
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  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
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  Speaker 1: your life count by being there for somebody who needs
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  Speaker 1: the sweet fragrance of your presence, By the simple loving
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  Speaker 1: things that you.
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  Speaker 2: Do for someone or say to someone.
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  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
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  Speaker 1: warm bath for your wife or husband, just because, by
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  Speaker 1: being grateful for who you are, being grateful for family
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: and friends, and counting your blessings.
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  Speaker 2: Now that's just nine or ten.
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  Speaker 1: Different ways to make your life count. It doesn't have
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  Speaker 1: to be written in headlines across the sky, does it.
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  Speaker 1: You can make your life count just by doing the
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  Speaker 1: simple things, the small things, the things that will move
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  Speaker 1: someone else's heart. That's what legacy living Make your Life
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  Speaker 1: Count is all about. You can learn more about legacy
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  Speaker 1: living Make your life count by visiting the Gloria Burgess website.
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  Speaker 1: That's Gloria Burgess g l O R I A B
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  Speaker 1: as in boy you are g E S S dot com.
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  Speaker 1: Just take a look around the website, and you know,
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  Speaker 1: notice a few of the things that are on there,
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  Speaker 1: and you'll get a better sense of who I am
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  Speaker 1: and what legacy living is all about. Now, that's the
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: Gloria Burgess website. G L O R I A B
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  Speaker 1: as in boy you are g E S S dot
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  Speaker 1: com or by visiting Facebook at Facebook dot com. Forward
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  Speaker 1: slash d R for doctor d R Gloria Burgess p
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  Speaker 1: h D forward slash all Right, today's show is an
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: honor of a wonderful a wonderful poet and author, Lucille Clifton.
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: 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,
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  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
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  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 2: I first met her at.
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  Speaker 1: The Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival, which is held every
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  Speaker 1: other year on the East Coast. I also met her
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  Speaker 1: at the Scadget River Poetry Festival, which is also held
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  Speaker 1: every other year. Now these are sister poetry festivals, the Dodge.
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  Speaker 2: Festival and the s.
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  Speaker 1: Gadget Festival, and these two celebrations are actually held on
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  Speaker 1: alternate years. Now. When I first met Miss Lucille.
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  Speaker 2: I was struck. I was struck by how ordinary she was.
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  Speaker 1: Now I don't mean ordinary in a negative kind of way,
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  Speaker 1: not at all. I actually mean it as a very
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  Speaker 1: high compliment. Lucille was ordinary in the way she looked,
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  Speaker 1: the way she walked, the way she spoke, the tilt
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  Speaker 1: of her head, even the language she used. The words
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  Speaker 1: she used to introduce her poems, and the words she
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  Speaker 1: used in her poems.
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  Speaker 2: Spoke to me.
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  Speaker 1: They spoke to my core, just as clearly as an
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  Speaker 1: elder in my personal village would speak words of wisdom
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  Speaker 1: to me.
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  Speaker 2: The just right sized pearls that.
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  Speaker 1: I could tuck into my pocket and take with me
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  Speaker 1: wherever I happened to go. From Lucille's words, I could
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  Speaker 1: actually imagine the streets she lived on, the house she
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  Speaker 1: lived in, the people she lived with, even the food
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  Speaker 1: she might have.
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  Speaker 2: Cooked for those people.
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  Speaker 1: Her people, her people were also my people. I could
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  Speaker 1: relate to Lucille as if she were one of my own,
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  Speaker 1: one of my own neighbors, one of my own aunties,
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  Speaker 1: one of my own sisters. Even right why because she
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  Speaker 1: was she was one of my own. Lucille was the
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  Speaker 1: kind of person I loved to meet, and I love
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  Speaker 1: to write at the kind of person who who dares,
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  Speaker 1: who dares to be fully and completely who they are
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  Speaker 1: inside and out.
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  Speaker 2: So in her honor.
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  Speaker 1: Today's focus is dare to be you, dare to be you. Now,
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  Speaker 1: before I die into today's show, I want to pause
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  Speaker 1: for just a moment.
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  Speaker 2: To welcome you.
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  Speaker 1: To welcome you, my listeners. If you're just joining us,
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  Speaker 1: I'm your host, doctor Gloria. Gloria Burgess. This is legacy living,
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  Speaker 1: make your life count, and I'd like to extend a
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  Speaker 1: very special welcome to those of you who are joining
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  Speaker 1: my show, or if you're joining Talk Network Radio for
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: the very first time. Let me tell you you are
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: in for a real treat. I'm excited to have you
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  Speaker 1: listening in today, and I'm deeply honored that you've allowed
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  Speaker 1: me to be part of your so you can be
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  Speaker 1: inspired by the ideas and resources to make your life count.
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  Speaker 1: Now once again, today's topic is there to be you,
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  Speaker 1: and my focus today is to pay tribute, to pay
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  Speaker 1: homage to miss Lucille Clifton as we lift up this
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  Speaker 1: prolific poet and writer. Now, the best way to introduce
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  Speaker 1: Lucille Clifton is not through the lens of the many
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  Speaker 1: awards and prizes and an honorary degree she earned, or
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  Speaker 1: where she taught, or even how many books she wrote,
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  Speaker 1: books of poetry and books for children. Oh No, the
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  Speaker 1: best way to introduce Lucille Clifton is through her own words,
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  Speaker 1: through her own poems. I remember that whenever I heard
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  Speaker 1: her read, she seemed to really enjoy reading one.
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  Speaker 2: Of her best known poems. Some of you may know it.
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  Speaker 1: It's called Homage to My Hips. Homage to my Hips.
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  Speaker 1: These hips are big hips. They need space to move
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  Speaker 1: around in. They don't fit into little petty places. These
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  Speaker 1: hips are free hips. They don't like to be held back.
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  Speaker 1: These hips have never been enslaved. They go where they
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  Speaker 1: want to go. They do what they want to do.
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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 spin him like a top.
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  Speaker 2: 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.
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  Speaker 2: Him like a top.
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  Speaker 1: I just love Lucille and how she takes just a
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  Speaker 1: handful of words and makes incredible music and magic out
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  Speaker 1: of those words.
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  Speaker 2: I love this particular poem.
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  Speaker 1: It explores the body, a woman's body, in ways that
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  Speaker 1: we're not supposed to talk about all the time, right
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  Speaker 1: and certainly not in public, at least not when this
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  Speaker 1: poem was written. On another layer, this poem also addresses
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  Speaker 1: the body, the black body, not as a thing not
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  Speaker 1: as an object, not as something that was.
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  Speaker 2: Owned by another human being.
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  Speaker 1: Here Clifton lists up the body as asd and luscious.
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  Speaker 2: Not as an object, mind you, but as.
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  Speaker 1: An embodied aspect of womanhood and as someone who had
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  Speaker 1: stepped away from an identity of being owned, of being enslaved.
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  Speaker 1: Another one of my favorite poems by Miss Lucille is
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  Speaker 1: called Slaveships slave Ships. In this poem, she calls the
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  Speaker 1: name of several slave ships that were used during the
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  Speaker 1: Middle Passage. Now, often the ships were named using Christian
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  Speaker 1: images and words from scripture. And for those of you
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  Speaker 1: who may not know what the Middle Passage is, it's
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  Speaker 1: actually a term that we use that refers to a
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  Speaker 1: specific part of what is sometimes called the.
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  Speaker 2: Triangular route of the slave ship.
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  Speaker 1: So imagine in a triangle. Okay, imagine a triangle, and
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  Speaker 1: the points of the triangle point to the geography of
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  Speaker 1: the slave trade. So at the top, you know that
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  Speaker 1: very first point of the triangle, at the top, we
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  Speaker 1: would refer to what is now known as the UK,
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  Speaker 1: the United Kingdom, Okay. And then the second point of
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  Speaker 1: the triangle points down to the west coast of Africa,
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  Speaker 1: all right, And then this point of the triangle crosses
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  Speaker 1: over Okay to the third point, and that geography is
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  Speaker 1: known as the America's North America, Central America, and South America.
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  Speaker 1: These were the destination points for the African people who
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  Speaker 1: were enslaved. So the Middle Passage is the name that
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  Speaker 1: we give to the middle part of the triangle, the
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  Speaker 1: part where the slave ships crossed the Atlantic Ocean from
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  Speaker 1: from Africa to the Americas. So Lucille says this about
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  Speaker 1: her poem Slaveships. She says, this is a poem about
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  Speaker 1: ships that went from the African continent and took free
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  Speaker 1: people and brought them to this continent where they were enslaved. Now,
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  Speaker 1: she goes on to say, I did not say that
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  Speaker 1: this was about ships that went to Africa and got's
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  Speaker 1: slaves and brought them here. And there is a difference,
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  Speaker 1: if you can feel it.
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  Speaker 2: Now.
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  Speaker 1: I noticed these names of slave ships, and I wanted
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  Speaker 1: to write about it. One of the ships was called Jesus,
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  Speaker 1: one was called Angel, and another was called Grace of God.
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  Speaker 1: So here's her poem, slave ships loaded like spoons into
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  Speaker 1: the belly of Jesus, where we lay for weeks.
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  Speaker 2: For months.
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  Speaker 1: In the sweat and stink.
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  Speaker 2: Of our own breathing.
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  Speaker 1: Jesus, Why do.
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  Speaker 2: You not protect us?
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  Speaker 1: Chained to the heart of the Angel, where the prayers
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  Speaker 1: we never tell, and hot and red as our bloody ankles,
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  Speaker 1: Jesus Angel, Can these be men who vomit us out
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  Speaker 1: from ships called Jesus Angel, grace of God onto a
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  Speaker 1: heathen country? Jesus Angel? Ever again, can this tongue speak?
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  Speaker 1: Can these bones walk?
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  Speaker 2: Grace of God?
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  Speaker 1: Can this sin.
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  Speaker 3: Live?
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  Speaker 2: Mercy? What do you say after a poem like that? Again,
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  Speaker 2: It's a.
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  Speaker 4: Mazing what Lucille can do with just a just a
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  Speaker 4: handful of words, a handful of ordinary words that she
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  Speaker 4: transforms into the extraordinary.
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  Speaker 1: It is beautiful poem. Asphodel William Carlos Williams says this,
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  Speaker 1: it is difficult to get the news from poems. It
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  Speaker 1: is difficult to get the news from poems, though men
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  Speaker 1: die miserably every day for lack of what is found there.
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  Speaker 1: This little gem about the news you can find inside
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  Speaker 1: poems is if tucked deep inside of that poem. Asphodel,
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  Speaker 1: Lucille's poems remind me that inside of every poem is
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  Speaker 1: a bit of news, news that shines the light on
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  Speaker 1: what it means to be, to be human. Before her
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  Speaker 1: death in February twenty ten, Clifton was a Distinguished Professor
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  Speaker 1: of Humanities at Saint Mary's College of Maryland. She also
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: taught at Columbia University. Born in Depew, New York, in
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  Speaker 1: nineteen thirty six to working class parents, Lucille attended Howard
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: University before she turned seventeen years old. She was actually
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  Speaker 1: sixteen when she enrolled. Although she was given the name
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: Selma when she was born, as a young woman, she
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: changed her name to Lucille. Her given name of Selma
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  Speaker 1: was also her mother's name. Like Lucille, her mother was
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: also a writer, a poet in her own right, whose
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: gifts were unfortunately thwarted. In her poem called Fury Fury,
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  Speaker 1: Clifton captures the essence of her mother's experience. For Mamma Fury,
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  Speaker 1: remember this. She is standing by.
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  Speaker 2: The furnace.
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  Speaker 1: The coals glisten like rubies. Her hand, her hand is crying.
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  Speaker 1: Her hand is clutching a sheaf of papers, poems. She
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  Speaker 1: gives them up. They burn jewels into jewels. Her eyes
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  Speaker 1: are animals. Each hank of hair is a serpent's obedient wife.
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  Speaker 1: She will never recover. Remember, there is nothing you will
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  Speaker 1: not bear for this woman's sake. Lucille Clifton's father and
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: her mother had an elementary school education, and her mother
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  Speaker 1: was also a poet, a poet with a burning desire
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  Speaker 1: to write. In Lucille's own words, she says, once, my
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: mother got a letter from somebody who wanted to put
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  Speaker 1: her poems in a book, and my father wouldn't let
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  Speaker 1: her do it. Now, now you frowned, because what you know.
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: Now she's talking here to Bill Moyers, who's interviewing her. Okay,
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: she continues, but let me tell you something. In the
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: forties and fifties, husbands thought they could do that. Sometimes
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: guys still try that now, Okay, it's not gonna work
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  Speaker 1: for you, you know. And so what my mother did
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: was take her poems and she burned them. She put
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: them in a cold stove. And I was standing on
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: 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.
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  Speaker 2: I remembered that.
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  Speaker 1: I understand what fury and anger were. Now again, this
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: is Lucille talking to Bill Moyers. He was interviewing her
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  Speaker 1: for his wonderful gem of a book called The Language
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  Speaker 1: of Life. This book is all about poets, poetry, and
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: the craft of using language to reflect life, to give
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  Speaker 1: us a window into life, into humanity. Lucille's poem is very,
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  Speaker 1: very powerful. It is a poem that pays homage to
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  Speaker 1: her mom. It's also a poem that uses a few
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  Speaker 1: Welsh words, like all of Clifton's poems do. And in
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: those few words, those few lines of poetry, is this
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  Speaker 1: magnificent story told in miniature.
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  Speaker 2: This poet is.
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  Speaker 1: So so at the top of her craft, she can
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  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
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  Speaker 1: her poems into that batch of coals, into the fiery furnace.
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  Speaker 1: But at the core of this poem are words and images.
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  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
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  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
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  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
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  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
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  Speaker 1: side of loyalty is disloyalty.
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  Speaker 2: Okay, let me repeat that.
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  Speaker 1: What we don't often recognize is that on the other
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  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,
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  Speaker 1: don't we We have to be disloyal to.
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  Speaker 2: Someone or something else in order to be loyal.
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  Speaker 1: Now, many of us are disloyal to our own creativity.
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  Speaker 1: I just spoke with a woman this morning who called me.
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: She said, Gloria, I need some mentoring time. I need
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: some mentoring time. And what the conversation was all about,
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: what's disloyalty being disloyal to our own creativity, and when
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: we are, the consequence is that we're disloyal to our
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: own creative juices, our own creative life. When we're loyal
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: to someone or something else, we often become disloyal to
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  Speaker 1: what has heart and meaning for us. Here's the thing.
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: We form habits, well intentioned habits that make us obedient
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  Speaker 1: to one thing, a way of life, a way of thinking,
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  Speaker 1: a way of being a spouse or a partner, our
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: children sometimes right, and in so doing we don't even
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: realize the big price tag that goes along with that choice.
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  Speaker 1: So what is the price we pay? The price we
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: pay is being stuck, being stuck in old ways of thinking,
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: in unhealthy relationships and work that we have all grown.
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: We stay stuck in old, worn out habits and routines
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: that no longer fit us, that no longer provide oxygen
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: for us, habits and routines that no longer serve us. Well,
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  Speaker 1: that's a different show, I know.
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  Speaker 2: Right now.
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: Back to Lucille. One of the many things I just
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: love about Lucille, that I just adore about her is
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: her uncanny ability to recognize the extraordinary in what others
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: would see as ordinary, She actually sees in a particular way,
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: and she goes the extra mile through her curiosity and
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: then through her writing. That's what artists do, that's what
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: poets do, that's what musicians do, that's what sculptors do.
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: They go the extra mile. They see in a very
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: particular way, and then they go the extra mile through
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: their curiosity and whatever art form they're working in. So
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: by seeing the extraordinary in the ordinary, Lucie feel makes
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: a difference every single day.
• 28:05
  Speaker 2: In her poems and in her children's books.
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: This next poem is one that came out of Lucille's
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: experience of 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.
• 28:45
  Speaker 2: Right, But not Lucille.
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: She senses into her experience and this curious and as
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: furious as a terrier with the bone, she on Earth's
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: and treasures, unearths and treasures. What is quite extraordinary. This
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: next poem is called at the Cemetery, Walnut Grove, Plantation,
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: South Carolina, nineteen eighty nine. At the Cemetery, Walnut Grove, Plantation,
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: South Carolina.
• 29:24
  Speaker 2: Nineteen eighty nine. Among the rocks.
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: At Walnut Grove, your silence drumming in my bones, Tell
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: me your names. Nobody mentioned slaves, and yet the curious
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: tools shine with your finger fingerprints. Nobody mentioned slaves. But
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: somebody did this work, who had no guide, no stone,
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: who molders under rock. Tell me your names, Tell me
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: your bashful names, and I will testify. The inventory lists
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: ten slaves, but only men were recognized.
• 30:46
  Speaker 2: Among the rocks.
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: At Walnut Grove. Some of these honored dead were dark.
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: Some of these dark were slaves. Some of these slaves
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: were women.
• 31:07
  Speaker 2: Some of them did.
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: This honored work. Tell me your names, fore, mothers, brothers,
• 31:23
  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
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: and life.
• 32:33
  Speaker 2: And because she is so particular.
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: In that focus, her work is universal in its appeal
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: and its impact. That's what good poetry does, so particular
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: in its focus, that it becomes universal, universal in its
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: appeal and its impact. In fact, as they awarded the
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: prestigious Ruth Lily Poetry Prize to Clifton about ten years ago,
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: the judges said, one always feels the looming humaneness around
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: Lucille Clifton's poems. It is a moral quality that some
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: poets have and some don't. As I mentioned earlier, Lucille
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: left this earth about seven years ago. On February thirteenth,
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: twenty ten, Lucille Clifton died. I, for one, could not
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: believe it. I didn't want to believe it. My fellow
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: poet and writer, my sister friend, who when asked about
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: the craft of poetry, would craftily tell you stories instead.
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: My sister friend passed on after a long struggle with cancer.
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: She crossed over to the other side. About two weeks later.
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: Bill Moyers wrote a fitting tribute to her life and
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: her work. Here's what Moyers wrote. He says, the long
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: arc of morality, the long arc of morality that bends
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: towards justice, leads not only through the courthouse and the
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: state House, but out on the streets and in the
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: pages of poetry and prose. Luckily, for the rest of us,
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: there are writers who, in words both beautiful and bold,
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: can expl for us rage at injustice. But they don't
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: stop there. They help us experience sorrow and joy through
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: an intimate knowledge of tempestuous human nature. We lost one
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: of those gifted people the other day, one of our
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: most popular poets, my friend Lucille Clifton. Lucille Clifton's poetry,
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: legendary for its sparseness of word and punctuation, spoke unflinchingly
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: of personal hardship, the history of oppression, and the human condition.
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: She was a standout in several programs we meaning PBS,
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: in several programs we produced over the years on the
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: Wonders of poetry. Lucille Clifton learned to love language as
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: a child to poems written by her mother, a woman
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: who never finished grade school. Inheriting that love of language
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: and the spirit of her mom, Lucille Clifton wrote poetry
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: of her own twenty years before she was actually published,
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: but with her first collections of poems, she quickly gained
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: recognition that just kept.
• 36:23
  Speaker 2: Growing over time.
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: Over a long and prolific career, Clifton published more than
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: thirty books that probed the indignations of slavery, celebrated the
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: day to day events of life and community, and chronicled
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: with frank and poiant sensuality, the fragilties, the frailties and
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: pleasures of the human body. Lucille Clifton was a two
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: time finalist for the Pulitz Surprise in the same something
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: that had never happened before. In two thousand, she received
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: the National Book Award for her book of poems called
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: Blessing the Boats, New and Selected Poems, and then in
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: two thousand and seven, she became the first African American
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: woman to receive the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, one of
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: America's most prestigious poetry honors. Lucille Clifton was seventy three.
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: Thank you, Bill Moyers for that amazing, amazing tribute. I'll
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: 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 sittingly 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 2: And has failed. Oh, miss Lucille.
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: Miss Lucille, we lift you up and celebrate you. We
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: celebrate you each and every single day. Thank you for
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: teaching us how to dare, to dare to be you. Now,
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: if you missed any part of today's broadcast, you can
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: listen to the recording at your own convenience. You can
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: listen to it on the goal.
• 40:04
  Speaker 2: How about that?
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: Check us out at www. Dot talknetwork radio dot com.
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: Forward slash Legacy Living. That's www. Dot Talknetwork Radio dot
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: com forward slash Legacy Living L E G A C
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: Y L I D I N G, all smushed.
• 40:27
  Speaker 2: Together in one word.
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: Before I close today, I want to thank each of
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: you for tuning in to today's show, for allowing me
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: to share a bit of my journey with what legacy
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: living is all about. Not just living and learning, but
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: living and learning and serving so that you make a
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: difference in your own life and in the lives of others.
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: It's all about being on purpose every single day. Three
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: sixty five twenty. Legacy Living is one of the many
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: ways to make your life count. I'm your host, doctor
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: Gloria Gloria Burgess, and this has been Legacy Living. Make
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: your life count. Please join me again next week right
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: here on Talk Network Radio for another show of Legacy Living.
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: Make your life count. Don't just count the days in
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: your life, Make the days in your life count. That's
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: what legacy living is all about. Have a fantastic day,
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: and remember, make.
• 41:38
  Speaker 2: The days of your life count.
• 41:41
  Speaker 3: Godless, that's our show today.
• 41:55
  Speaker 1: I'm your host, doctor Gloria Gloria Burgess. I hope you'll
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: join me again next week. Until then, don't just count.
• 42:04
  Speaker 2: The days in your life, make.
• 42:07
  Speaker 1: The days in your life account. That's what legacy living
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: is all about. Here's to you have a fantastic day.
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: Be sure to make it a yes kind of day
• 42:19
  Speaker 1: and remember celebrate, celebrate the music of your life. Make
• 42:26
  Speaker 1: the day in your life a count