Signs
- Signs
Lucille Clifton: A Special Section
when the birds begin to walk when the crows in their silk tuxedos stand in the road and watch as oncoming traffic swerves to avoid the valley of dead things when the geese reject the sky and sit on the apron of highway 95 one wing pointing north the other south
and what does it mean this morning when a man runs wild eyed from his car shirtless and shoeless his palms spread wide into the jungle of traffic into a world gone awry the birds beginning to walk the man almost naked almost cawing almost lifting straining to fly
Lucille Clifton, who has won many prizes for her work, is author of thirty-two books of poetry for adults and prose for young readers. She is the only poet with two books as finalist for the Pulitzer Prize during the same year. She is currently Distinguished Professor of Humanities at St. Mary’s College of Maryland. She has also served as Blackburn Professor of Creative Writing at Duke University and as Poet Laureate of Maryland.
