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WON'T YOU CELEBRATE WITH ME by Lucille Clifton

(Submitted by Charity Whiting)

This poem touches my heart because it is at once tender and tenacious…

  Lucille Clifton elegantly and succinctly sums up the human condition with her words "here on this bridge between starshine and clay" as she describes exactly where our journey of self-actualization takes place.

 With "one hand holding tight" the other hand, each of us becomes our own best guide and champion in the process of shaping our lives.  

How sweet to celebrate each day, the opportunity to show up again on that bridge and proclaim victory over all the obstacles that could've taken us out but didn't!
Photography by Lena Trindade

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.

~
(To hear Lucille recite her poem click on the play arrow)





Charity Whiting is a lover of words, nature and the breath.  A licensed massage therapist and mother of two, she spends her time helping people heal themselves through relaxation and learning life's most valuable lessons from her best teachers, her children.  Charity is also a ceramic artist, yogini and health food junkie. Presently, she is pursuing a Master of Arts degree in teaching and hopes to become a High School English teacher, sharing her love of words with young minds everywhere.




~If you are interested in seeing your poetry appear in this blog, or submitting a poem by a woman that has inspired you, please click here for submission guidelines. I greatly look forward to hearing from you!~  
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