Lucille Clifton's "Homage to My Hips"

The speaker's hips announce their pride and immunity loud and proud: "they don't like to be held back. / these hips have never been enslaved, / they go where they want to go / they do what they want to do" (Clifton 1). It is particularly poignant to hear Clifton recite this anthem aloud, as she is able to bring with it all the depth and pain and overcoming she has experienced to the announcement of freedom. Like the shoulders of the poet which have carried the burden of the weight of racism and prejudice, so her hips are strong enough to support whatsoever challenges come their way, "these hips are mighty hips" (Clifton 1). Clifton's vocal delivery of this l

ne helps inform the listener that the foreboding(a) experience in American fiat has been one of harm and struggle but also one of finding and terminationurance.

In sum, Clifton's personification of and homage to her hips in "Homage to My Hips," celebrates the endurance and determination of the black soul to be free and empowered in American society. By personifying her hips, Clifton is able to explore subjects in society like race and gender relations in a humorous yet powerful way. Her comedic delivery of the final lines helps get under one's skin the overall tone of triumph and victory of the poem and its notable parts!

In reading the poem, the lack of capitalization whitethorn be a reference to the subordinate position of blacks in a white racist society. Yet at the end of the poem the speaker
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