Something beautiful from poet Lucille Clifton, who died in February. There’s so much to say about it that I find I can’t say anything, except that I believe in sun, and honey time.
—-
New Bones
by Lucille Clifton
we will wear
new bones again.
we will leave
these rainy days.
break out through another mouth
into sun and honey time
worlds buzz over us like bees,
we be splendid in new bones.
other people think they know
how long life is
how strong life is.
we know.
Beautiful.
Once upon a time I was a student worker at The Poetry Center at the U of Arizona. I cleaned things up at night, sometimes listening to tapes of writers who came to read. I also took the plastic off of trays of cookies and mixed the punch for receptions after readings. When Lucille Clifton read she lingered after as if there was nothing she’d rather do more than talk with students and laugh and why, yes, she’d like to go with us all to a college hangout. I’ll never forget sitting on a patio under the mesquite trees and Clifton reciting two of her poems out loud from memory with the Tucson stars winking, and we students agog. Strong life, indeed.
Once upon a time I was a student worker at The Poetry Center at the U of Arizona. I cleaned things up at night, sometimes listening to tapes of writers who came to read. I also took the plastic off of trays of cookies and mixed the punch for receptions after readings. When Lucille Clifton read she lingered after as if there was nothing she’d rather do more than talk with students and laugh and why, yes, she’d like to go with us all to a college hangout. I’ll never forget sitting on a patio under the mesquite trees and Clifton reciting two of her poems out loud from memory with the Tucson stars winking, and we students agog. Strong life, indeed.