Good Times

by Lucille Clifton

Lucille Clifton's first published book of poems.

Genres: Poetry, African American Literature

74 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1969

About the author

Lucille Clifton was an American poet, writer, and educator from New York. Common topics in her poetry include the celebration of her African American heritage, and feminist themes, with particular emphasis on the female body.

She was the first person in her family to finish high school and attend college. She started Howard University on scholarship as a drama major but lost the scholarship two years later.

Thus began her writing career.

Good Times, her first book of poems, was published in 1969. She has since been nominated twice for the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry and has been honored as Maryland's Poet Laureate.

Ms. Clifton's foray into writing for children began with Some of the Days of Everett Anderson, published in 1970.

In 1976, Generations: A Memoir was published. In 2000, she won the National Book Award for Poetry, for her work "Poems Seven".

From 1985 to 1989, Clifton was a professor of literature and creative writing at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She was Distinguished Professor of Humanities at St. Mary's College of Maryland. From 1995 to 1999, she was a visiting professor at Columbia University. In 2006, she was a fellow at Dartmouth College.

Clifton received the Robert Frost Medal for lifetime achievement posthumously, from the Poetry Society of America.

Reviews

[Dan]

I decided last year to read through the poetry of Lucille Clifton, and this, her debut collection, was a great first step. Looking forward to more.

Highly recommended!

[Zuri]

Ms. Clifton (the GOAT that is, Greatest of All Time)'s first collection! Already an icon, my faves are In the inner city (always teach this with my high school poetry elective when we're writing place poems), If I stand in my window, For deLawd, generations, willie b (2), and Admonitions.

[Kristin]

Wonderful to be reading Lucille Clifton's collected works. I'd read some of her poems before, but reading them all in light of one another has been incredible - I'd never considered myself a fan of hers, and now I can't get enough. I especially liked "Robert" and "The 1st" here.

[Sanjuro]

Clifton's first collection is raw, the language and the style, full of clear and simple images. She largely deals with black American life in 1960s, though she often alludes to her African heritage in Dahomey, and the Tyrone and Willie B sequence likely refers to the Civil War. Favorites for me include "Generations" and "Good Times," the latter depicting the bliss of childhood ignorance in only 18 lines. The writing here is unromantic and the structures of the poems unsophisticated, but the raw language matches the discourse well and it makes for a quick but impacting read.

[Raffy Rillo]

in the inner city
or
like we call it
home
we think a lot about uptown
and the silent nights
and the houses straight as
dead men
and the pastel lights
and we hang on to our no place
happy to be alive
and in the inner city
or
like we call it
home

[andré crombie]

“remember me from wydah
remember the child
running across dahomey
black as ripe papaya
juicy as sweet berries
and set me in the rivers of your glory”

[Corey]

the 1st and generations are two of my favorites from the first collection.

[Liv]

Love that a first book of poetry, with all its rough and growing edges, can contain so many favorites. I am certain I will hum “good times” beneath my breath every day filled with sunshine. 3.5 stars

[Julia Hannafin]

“what we decided is
you save your own self.”