Join Amazon Prime and ship Two-Day for free and Overnight for $3.99. Already a member? Sign in.

 

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
   
More Buying Choices
58 used & new from $4.99

Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
   
Tell a Friend
Blessing the Boats: New and Selected Poems 1988-2000 (American Poets Continuum)
 
 
Are You an Author or Publisher?
Find out how to publish your own Kindle Books
 
  

Blessing the Boats: New and Selected Poems 1988-2000 (American Poets Continuum) (Paperback)

by Lucille Clifton (Author)
4.2 out of 5 stars  (12 customer reviews)

List Price: $17.00
Price: $11.56 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details
You Save: $5.44 (32%)
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.

Want it delivered Thursday, July 24? Choose One-Day Shipping at checkout. See details

58 used & new available from $4.99
Also Available in: List Price: Our Price: Other Offers:
Hardcover (1st ed) 21 used & new from $4.46
Library Binding (Reprint) $26.00 $26.00
 
   

Special Offers and Product Promotions
  • This title is eligible for Amazon Fall Textbook promotions


Better Together

Buy this book with Kindred (Bluestreak Black Women Writers) by Octavia E. Butler today!

Blessing the Boats: New and Selected Poems 1988-2000 (American Poets Continuum) Kindred (Bluestreak  Black Women Writers)
Buy Together Today: $22.76

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Good Woman: Poems and a Memoir 1969-1980 (American Poets Continuum)

Good Woman: Poems and a Memoir 1969-1980 (American Poets Continuum) by Lucille Clifton

4.8 out of 5 stars (4)  $12.58
Poemcrazy: Freeing Your Life with Words

Poemcrazy: Freeing Your Life with Words by Susan G. Wooldridge

4.8 out of 5 stars (47)  $11.16
Lessons From the Dying

Lessons From the Dying by Rodney Smith

4.8 out of 5 stars (8)  $12.71
The People Speak CD : American Voices, Some Famous, Some Little Known, from Columbus to the Present

The People Speak CD : American Voices, Some Famous, Some Little Known, from Columbus to the Present by Howard Zinn

4.0 out of 5 stars (3) 
The Book of Light

The Book of Light by Lucille Clifton

5.0 out of 5 stars (3)  $10.40
Explore similar items : Books (49)

Editorial Reviews
From Library Journal
Clifton's poems owe a great deal to oral tradition. Her work is wonderfully musical and benefits greatly from being read aloud: "It is hard to remain human on a day/ when birds perch weeping/ in the trees and the squirrel eyes/ do not look away but the dog ones do/ in pity." Her keen sense of rhythm, of the sound, tone, and texture of words, is delightful, a rare find in this day and age. The language is crystal clear and deceptively accessible. The poems are personal, but the distant thunder of history rumbles behind every line. As she says on seeing a photograph: "is it the cut glass/ of their eyes/ looking up toward/ the new gnarled branch/ of the black man/ hanging from a tree?" Clifton's work hearkens back to the days of the Black Arts Movement and sheds light on the new black aesthetic. These are economical slices of ordinary life, celebrations, if you will, of African American existence. With simple language and common sense, she writes of grace, character, and race by way of the personal and familiar. Clifton's voice, her unique vision and wisdom, make this book essential for any serious poetry collection.
-Louis McKee, Painted Bride Arts Ctr., Philadelphia
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Birds and foxes appear in Clifton's poems, and it's easy to see why their quicksilver energy and grace, their bright knowingness and oneness with the earth, appeal to her: when she puts pen to paper, she is their sister. Clifton's poems are lean, agile, and accurate, and there is beauty in their directness and efficiency, an element, too, of surprise. New poems set this powerful volume in motion, and just like her much-praised earlier work, they address the tragic and the inexplicable. Clifton writes about children killing children, a father abusing a daughter, white men killing black men, and other confounding forms of madness. She ponders mysteries both immediate and theological, including cancer's voraciousness, banishment from the Garden of Eden, and Lazarus' return to the land of the living, and she approaches them with pleasing matter-of-factness. Clifton is valiant and curious, saddened but seasoned. There is strength in these spare yet musical poems, and faith in the power of expression. Donna Seaman --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details
  • Paperback: 145 pages
  • Publisher: BOA Editions Ltd. (April 1, 2000)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1880238888
  • ISBN-13: 978-1880238882
  • Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.4 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: