To understand the great body of work that Lucille Clifton left after her death in 2010—the evolving body, for more poems are being excavated all the time—you must understand that Black history informs much of her work. There is the generous verse she offered everyone, regardless of racial or gender identification. This was her benediction, and because of that gift, many want to read disembodied, deracinated impulses in Clifton’s poems, seeking a so-called universal meaning.

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/articles/154884/go-back-and-fetch-it

i’m ready to dance to have a good time
inrly wanna get out of my mind
i’m down to do i’m down to rhyme
and everyone lookin at me kind 
of

take your time on the sunday sidewalk 
it’s okay to slow down to enjoy it take
a breath a step another avenue talk
like it’s just impossible to fake

i knew it couldn’t last but it was fun 
to pretend for a while anyway 
it’s not like they had a gun to our head
it’s just something we like to say 

there is no other place to put it
at this point honestly all i can do
is put it here and hope it don’t bleed
too much and too little and too tough
to keep in the pit of your stomach
at the bottom of you is where it goes
thundering your abdomen
new dreams dead dreams red dreams
christmas lights
bathing with war criminals
the sound richochets 
r - aching 
gathering 
the petrified remains of what used to be
the petrified remains of what used to be
the petrified remains of what used to be

the saffron in my hair is not everything 
the sun wake up to kiss me 
signs point to disaster 
but i split the time between dwelling on
and understanding that distortion 
does not define me 
u have ur line and design 
and that’s okay
telling lies 
with the truth 
will only pay
for so long we tried to fight 
but it’s okay
rub against your expectations 
feel the friction of contradiction 
it’s nice that way
and i sleep easier 

you don’t live in between worlds
you live in one world 
this one and no you aren’t caught
not stuck or trapped in between 
that’s a lie you tell yourself to 
let yourself off the hooks 
we can’t do that here
let ourself off no matter
how many books you read
any ones that you tatter
you gotta replace
so get to face to face with it
cuz baby
you’re in for the long haul