[New-Poetry] clifton

[David Graham]

Yes, and I guess I'd want to add that Clifton does strike me as a  
very strong and unusual poet indeed, far from being just one of a  
crowd of equally talented, etc.  Years ago I tended to underestimate  
her.  And then I taught her work in a contemporary lit class,  
discovering in the process just how knotty, strange, and subtle her  
apparently simple, short poems can be.  There's a great deal going on  
in a short space, and an absolute command of language that is a  
marvel.  I'm hard pressed to think of anyone who sounds much like  
her, or marshalls her sort of variety of tone, theme, & effect in  
such short compass.

To my mind she's very much the peer of the others who have won the  
Ruth Lilly prize:  Hecht, Levine, Ashbery, Rich, et al.


========================================
David Graham
grahamd at ripon.edu
Home Page:
http://www.ripon.edu/academics/faculty/GrahamD/index.html
Poetry Library:
http://www.ripon.edu/academics/faculty/GrahamD/poetrylib.html
==========================================



On May 10, 2007, at 2:46 PM, cvoisine at nmsu.edu wrote:

> I say she managed to become a fine poet while raising 5 (at least)  
> kids. that
> deserves a chunk of change.
>
> connie

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