random thoughts on Lucille Clifton

After reading Lucille Clifton's poems, my immediate thought was thank God, I am so glad I am not the only woman thinking these things. As a woman, Clifton's poems captured the feelings I have about my body and the feelings I have from month to month and also how I know I am going to feel as I get older and go through every change a woman eventually goes through. She describes womanhood and the connection a woman has to her body with the subjects of her poems focusing on the subject. Her poems are not only informative of a woman’s feelings but are also sexual with the poem, “homage to my hips.” Clifton’s poem, “wishes for sons” is exactly how I think most women feel towards men especially during certain times of the month because men have no idea what it is like to be a woman. My boyfriend disagrees with my thoughts that men get off easy compared to women that they don’t have to go through half the stresses a woman goes through when it comes to having children and everything that comes with it. While he sees my point that women do go through quite a bit more than men physically, his side to the argument is that men also face stresses such as worrying about getting a job that makes enough to provide for a family along with the stress of job security and ensuring that if the worst case scenario happens, he would still be able to provide for the family. While I see his point, I can’t help but argue that he still has no idea what a woman goes through. He cannot understand the connection a woman has to her body the way Clifton describes in her poetry.