In Memoriam
Lucille Clifton
June 27, 1936 - February 13, 2010
"As down to earth as she was, there was always that moment of a miracle when you were reminded that you were not with an ordinary human being. You were with a gift that would bless your life forever."
Lucille Clifton is a poet of enduring significance. The profound influence her work and example exerted on the lives of innumerable poets, readers and friends, including many within the Cave Canem community, will be felt for generations. Co-founder Toi Derricotte remembers, "What a model she is for us! She could say just a few words that would make you see the universe in a whole new way. Her fearlessness was one of the things I loved best about her. It enabled her to untangle complications that most of us spend our lives trying to figure out."
Cornelius Eady, Cave Canem’s co-founder, reflects, "How many of us were brave because we knew she was brave and in the world? And she was a village. I think one of her last gifts was the circle she drew, which included so many, all of us. She was clearly in the spirit of Cave Canem before CC ever was dreamed of."
A Cave Canem Elder, Miss Lucille taught at the organization’s retreat in the early years at Mount St. Alphonsus, and later as a returning guest poet. With Elder Sonia Sanchez, in 2001, she inaugurated Cave Canem’s Legacy Conversations, which continue today. Her warm interview with Nikky Finney, published in The Ringing Ear: Black Poets Lean South, Cave Canem’s second anthology, provides a glimpse into a life lived with courage, deep spirituality, humanity and purpose.
Lucille Clifton was born as Thelma Lucille Sayles to working class parents in Depew, New York, on June 27, 1936. Her first poetry collection, Good Times, was published in 1969, and listed by The New York Times as one of the year's 10 best books. She went on to publish 12 collections of poetry, one autobiographical prose work and 19 children's books. She received the National Book Award for Poetry for Blessing the Boats (BOA, 2000), and is the only poet to have had two books nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in the same year. Her most recent book of poems, Voices, was published by BOA Editions in 2008.
Throughout her career, Ms. Clifton received many honors, including the 2007 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize from the Poetry Foundation, one of the most prestigious recognitions given to American poets; the Shelley Memorial Prize; selection as a Literary Lion by the New York Public Library; a Lannan Achievement Award in Poetry; and a Lila Wallace/Reader's Digest Writer's Award. She served as Poet Laureate of the State of Maryland, 1975-1985; on the Board of Chancellors of the Academy of American Poets, 1999-2005; and as Distinguished Professor of Humanities and holder of the Hilda C. Landers Endowed Chair in the Liberal Arts at St. Mary's College of Maryland from 1991 until her retirement in 2007. She was awarded the 2010 Frost Medal by the Poetry Society of America to honor her "distinguished lifetime service to American poetry."
Ms. Clifton's poetry was notable in its ability to say a great deal in very few words. "She didn't waste space on the page and she didn't waste breath," says Christian Campbell, a Cave Canem fellow. "Her work is so elemental in its concerns. This is poetry of 'a simple language,' as she once put it, words that mother... Her work is not so much about truth as it is about the complex and urgent act of truth-telling… a poetics of illumination."
Lucille Clifton's presence at Cave Canem’s retreat is remembered as one of warmth, power and grace. devorah major recalls, "She taught me to honor again... the truths of the power of not just love, but of simplicity, humility, and laughter, even if it came inside of a truth that was hard and mean." Each of these qualities is present in her work, as they were in her person. "So often people think that intelligence is just about the mind, but... you do have to explore both the mind and the heart," Clifton said in an interview for the Antioch Review. "Nobody is just mind. Absolutely nobody. Balance is the law of the universe, to balance the inside and the outside of people."
A Lucille Clifton Scholarship Fund has been established. Contributions to this fund will help support Cave Canem's annual retreat, attended tuition-free by 54 emerging African American poets. Those wishing to make a gift may visit our donation page, or send a check made payable to Cave Canem Foundation, with the memo, "Clifton Scholarship Fund." Please mail to:
Cave Canem Foundation
20 Jay Street, Suite 310-A
Brooklyn, New York 11201-8301
