jasper texas 1998

“homage to my hips” by Lucille Clifton (1987)

Clifton’s most recognizable work celebrates Black women’s bodies. Like Maya Angelou’s “Phenomenal Woman,” this poem reclaims features of Black women’s bodies that are often dismissed and criticized by white beauty standards. In doing so, Clifton also contextualizes the Black body in its historical heritage.

“Power” by Audre Lorde (1978)

Like Clifton’s “jasper texas 1998,” Lorde’s poem is inspired by and centered on a real-life act of violence against Black Americans. This poem, featuring themes of racial injustice, prejudice, power, and racism, describes Lorde’s reaction to the 1973 murder of Clifford Glover, a ten year old Black boy, by racist undercover cop Thomas Shea, and Shea’s subsequent legal acquittal.

“Riot” by Gwendolyn Brooks (1994)

Another poem inspired by violence on Black Americans, Brooks’s poem is a response to the rioting in Chicago after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. In an effort to reveal the cause of the anger, she uses stereotypical and historical traits to describe Black people and their feelings. But rather than take the poetic voice of a Black rioter, she instead focuses on a white police officer’s reaction to the protesting to emphasize racial tensions.

“Declaration” by Tracy K. Smith (2018)

Smith’s poem is an erasure poem that uses selectively deleted elements of the American Declaration of Independence to criticize slavery and its systemic legacy in America. By using such a foundational American document, she draws attention to the inherent hypocrisy of its argument for freedom and independence while countenancing the dehumanizing practice of counting Black men as literally less than whole people. Smith’s sparse style and thematic concerns mirror Clifton’s.

“This is Not a Small Voice” by Sonia Sanchez (1995)

Using a style similar to Clifton and reflecting Clifton’s celebratory poems, Sanchez praises the Black community’s voice, love, and power.