Thanksgiving
Truth be told, there are not many poems I like that are ostensibly about Thanksgiving, but I wanted to post a poem to leave you with over the week, and to keep in my own mind as we meet up again with friends and family. I found this gem by Lucille Clifton, former poet laureate of Maryland, which is a poem about lowercase-t-thanksgiving, certainly, but also a pretty inspiring invitation. If you are feeling beaten down, or know someone who is, pass it on on this holiday of gratitude and celebration.
won’t you celebrate with me
by Lucille Clifton
won’t you celebrate with me
what i have shaped into
a kind of life? i had no model.
born in babylon
both nonwhite and woman
what did i see to be except myself?
i made it up
here on this bridge between
starshine and clay,
my one hand holding tight
my other hand; come celebrate
with me that everyday
something has tried to kill me
and has failed.
Lucille Clifton, “won’t you celebrate with me” from Book of Light (Copper Canyon Press, 1993). www.coppercanyonpress.com
Source: Book of Light (Copper Canyon Press, 1993).
- Posted in: poetry
Thanks for posting this–I haven’t read Clifton in a long time, and it was wonderful to see this.
I had never read it before I found it recently, and it is wonderful. It’s especially wonderful to think how many little girls will have a model now for being a fabulous nonwhite woman, in the Age of Obama, you know?