Lucille Clifton 1936-2010
In Joyce Johnson’s journal article, “The Theme of Celebration in Lucille Clifton’s poetry,” Johnson highlights Clifton’s accomplishments, but focuses on how she maintained a celebratory tone in her works even while writing about some of the tough experiences of Black life. Clifton’s “vision is not marred by sentimentality, for she sees all too clearly the bitterness and pain which are the offspring of racism; however, she consciously elects to accentuate Black life positively, thereby shaping-poetically-the reality of Black people through emphasis on their strength and beauty” (Johnson 70). In this article, Johnson provides several close readings of Clifton’s poems and expounds on her use of mascon images throughout her work.
She describes Clifton’s normally short poems as “delicate” and “graceful” and tells how she uses “mascon” images which are not always images but can also be verbal expressions meant to provide readers with a powerful response due to the collective experience she describes movingly. Johnson delves into one of her poems, “in the inner city” which describes the slums of the city being home, but she highlights the term “home” as one of the mascon images that everyone can feel in their heart when they read it. Home is a place that evokes a personal response to any reader despite in this poem, home is an inner-city slum. It makes it that much more impactful when the reader, who may have a positive image of home when they think of their own experience of home which would in turn make thinking of a slum as a home hit a level of juxtaposition that would be impactful to a reader. On the other side, someone who may have a similar view of home, could feel seen and understood by her use of a mascon image. Johnson furthers this concept by explaining the two reader experiences as “[o]ne invites a kind of sympathetic head shaking resulting from the bad mouthing done by sociologists who peer in from the outside and are blinded by their outsideness . . .[t]he other is a view shared by those inside who participate in the vitality of their home and who recognize their good fortune to be there” (71).
The next poem Johnson looks at she claims “offers strong mascon images which the poet uses to effectively awaken the reader the appropriate emotional response” is “good times” (71). The title itself is a mascon image. The poem talks about Daddy paying the rent and the electricity being back on as good times. Johnson states, “It attests to the courage of many of these fathers who, despite the power structure’s efforts to destroy their image of themselves as men, continue to struggle to support and protect their families” (72). The second stanza is about momma making bread, family has come over and is dancing drunk in the kitchen as being good times. Johnson says, “There is dancing and singing and food and family –and together, they spell good times” (72). The final line “oh children think about the / good times” is impactful as a mascon image and “speaks directly to the black youth whose assessment of their community is often shaped by those on the outside, those who fail to recognize the measure of good times in a culture and community they don’t understand” (72).
In the poem “homage to my hair,” Johnson dives into Clifton’s use of the term “nappy hair” as being “a powerful mascon image, for it has been the mainstay of an endless cycle of shame and humiliation which was psychologically debilitating, particularly for many black women” (74). Where these negative feelings and associations of “nappy hair” have been prevalent, Clifton writes this poem in an upbeat and positive tone while still giving acceptance to the difficulties and negative feelings this may bring. Johnson says, “The verbs ‘jump’ and ‘dance’ are appropriate, for they authentically capture the character and vitality of nappy hair; together with the word ‘music,’ they present images we readily associate with celebration, and thus, operate on two levels, as description and exultation” (74). Johnson highlights, “The genesis of this celebration in Clifton’s poetry seems to spring from her expressed world view” (74). As a poet, Clifton tries to see beyond the surface level and strives to get a whole view of life/a situation in particular the Black life experience. Johnson states that Clifton “sees it as worthy of remark that we still do live and love and dance and party and hope, despite the long history of slavery and deprivation we have suffered” (75). Further, “Clifton takes us beyond this narrow and dependent notion [of simply coping with the negativity of Black American life] to a concept of celebration under which the others may be subsumed. . . [and] celebration is the mainstay of our survival and ‘coping’ and ‘making do’ are merely ways of getting over the obstacles to celebrating” (75). Johnson closes with honoring that “Lucille Clifton celebrates life. Not just her life, or even our life, but all life. She celebrates its realities, its mysteries, and perhaps, most of all, she celebrates its continuity” (75).
I absolutely love close readings of poems and I lean towards wanting to dive into the readings in this aspect weekly, so this article stood out to me. Lucille Clifton’s poems honor life in a way that is universally understood even when the reader has not had the same experiences of Black life. The toxic positivity that is sometimes pushed on society seems to negate one’s truths and real experiences, but Clifton is able to honor truths and pain and horror and love and nappy hair while also gently allowing her readers to feel okay with celebrating life in the meantime. Her poetry truly captures a collective experience while honoring a more personal experience of Black life.
Johnson, Joyce. “The Theme of Celebration in Lucille Clifton’s Poetry.” Pacific Coast
Philology, vol. 18, no. 1/2, 1983, pp. 70–76. JSTOR.
Thanks for this overview! I wasn’t familiar with the term “mascon,” which comes from critic Stephen Henderson and is used to describe a mass concentration of black experiential energy.” Clifton’s engagement here anticipates what cultural critics now refer to as “black joy”–a centering of that positive black experiential energy as a node of resistance against and alongside narratives of suffering and setback. It’s a really compelling idea–one you might explore more in your final project!
As a high school teacher of primarily African American students, we always talked about how words and phrases such as “nappy headed” and cookout were seen and portrayed negatively throughout media and especially used as insults. I wish I had Clifton’s writings to be able to show my students to help them feel more seen. Your explanation of Johnson’s discussion of her writings portray and understanding of how the positivity and recognition of oneself in literature in the correct way is beautiful, even when repurposing words that certain groups are meaning to use harmfully.