From Publishers Weekly
Clifton's ( Quilting ) latest collection clearly demonstrates why she was twice nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. These poems contain all the simplicity and grace readers have come to expect from her work. The first few pages set the title in a larger perspective at the same time that they announce the book's premise: "woman, i am / lucille, which stands for light." This is a feminist version of Roots , charged with outrage at the sins done to women of previous generations. There are the typical heroes and anti-heroes: Atlas, Sisyphus, Leda, biblical women--but even these tired figures are given a new, often comic, twist: Naomi, for example, doesn't want Ruth's devotion, just to be left alone to "grieve in peace"; several poems are addressed to Clark Kent as the speaker comes to terms with the realization that he doesn't have the power to save her after all. And what do today's women have instead of superheroes? Jesse Helms; fathers who "burned us all." Though it is based more or less in traditional Christianity, the poetry also is concerned with how spirituality can be personal. Low key and poignant, poem after poem takes the form of a conversation, whether woman to her dead parents, Lucifer to God, or poet to reader. Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
A 1996 National Book Award nominee for The Terrible Stories, African American poet Clifton writes with "the passion of a born survivor" (The Book of Light, Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

ANNOTATION

Twice nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in poetry, Clifton extends her already formidable powers of revelation with these new poems. Her song springs almost spontaneously from her imagination to stitch surreality with concrete imagery drawn from temporal reality, revealing an essential mystery and wisdom from within.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Clifton's ( Quilting ) latest collection clearly demonstrates why she was twice nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. These poems contain all the simplicity and grace readers have come to expect from her work. The first few pages set the title in a larger perspective at the same time that they announce the book's premise: ``woman, i am / lucille, which stands for light.'' This is a feminist version of Roots , charged with outrage at the sins done to women of previous generations. There are the typical heroes and anti-heroes: Atlas, Sisyphus, Leda, biblical women--but even these tired figures are given a new, often comic, twist: Naomi, for example, doesn't want Ruth's devotion, just to be left alone to ``grieve in peace''; several poems are addressed to Clark Kent as the speaker comes to terms with the realization that he doesn't have the power to save her after all. And what do today's women have instead of superheroes? Jesse Helms; fathers who ``burned us all.'' Though it is based more or less in traditional Christianity, the poetry also is concerned with how spirituality can be personal. Low key and poignant, poem after poem takes the form of a conversation, whether woman to her dead parents, Lucifer to God, or poet to reader. (Mar.)

Library Journal