My Mama moved among the days

Lucille Clifton

My Mama moved among the days
like a dreamwalker in a field;
seemed like what she touched was hers
seemed like what touched her couldn’t hold,
she got us almost through the high grass
then seemed like she turned around and ran
right back in
right back on in

About This Poem

“My Mama moved among the days” was first published in Good Woman: Poems and a Memoir 1969–1980 (BOA Editions, 1987).

Lucille Clifton was born in 1936 in Depew, New York. Her collections of poetry include The Book of Light (Copper Canyon Press, 1993) and Blessing the Boats: New and Selected Poems 1988–2000 (BOA Editions, 2000), which won the National Book Award. She died in 2010.

Photo credit: Dorothy Alexander

Poetry by Clifton

Blessing the Boats: New and Selected Poems 1988-2000

(BOA Editions, 2000)

"the sonnet-ballad" by Gwendolyn Brooks

"Twenty-One Love Poems [Poem III]" by Adrienne Rich

"My Mother Would Be a Falconress" by Robert Duncan

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May 14, 2017