Hidden Gem

I like buying books and a few weeks ago I ordered 'quilting' by Lucille Clifton from owlsmart books in the USA at Amazon marketplace. At £1.07+ p&p it was one of those great secondhand bargain books. Its delivery was delayed because of the volcanic ash - how poetic! - but it arrived today. 

As I flicked through, guess what? It's been signed by Lucille herself!! On p. 49 she wrote: 
                          'For Daniel - Brother Poet - Joy! Lucille Clifton 2/94'. 
So that was a nice little surprise! These are the poems on p. 49.

1

when i stand around among poets

i am embarrassed mostly,

their long white heads,

the great bulge in their pants,

their certainties.

i don't know how to do

what i do in the way 

that i do it. it happens

despite me and i pretend

to deserve it.

but i don't know how to do it.

only sometimes when

something is singing

i listen and so far

i hear. 

2

when i stand around

among poets, sometimes

i hear a single music

in us, one note

dancing us through the

singular moving world.

Lucille Clifton

from quilting - poems 1987-1990 (BOA Editions).

Guardian Heads-Up

I said I was keeping an eye on the Guardian vis-a-vis women poets. Well, I've had an insider tip-off about this Saturday's edition! Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy has commissioned a group of poets to write on the theme of ageing. Poetry School co-ordinator in Manchester - Linda Chase - is one of the poets who will be contributing a poem. Linda is a skilled poet who writes fantastic poems, full of insight and compassion. I'm looking forward to reading the supplement in Saturday's paper.
Here's another poem for International Women's Week. Being of a certain age, I love this beautiful poem by inspirational African American poet Lucille Clifton, who died in February

to my last period
well girl, goodbye,
after thirty-eight years.
thirty-eight years and you
never arrived
splendid in your red dress
without trouble for me
somewhere, somehow.


now it is done,
and i feel just like
the grandmothers who,
after the hussy has gone,
sit holding her photograph
and sighing, wasn't she
beautiful? wasn't she beautiful?


from 'Being Alive- the sequel to Staying Alive' edited by Neil Astley, Bloodaxe