By : Lucille Clifton
these hips are big hips.
they need space to
move around in.
they don't fit into little
petty places. these hips
are free hips.
they don't like to be held back.
these hips have never been enslaved,
they go where they want to go
they do what they want to do.
these hips are mighty hips.
these hips are magic hips.
i have known them
to put a spell on a man and
spin him like a top!
When people think of a stereotypical female body they tend to think of a slim waist and hips which is what Lucille Clifton "rebels" against in her poem Homage to My Hips. In this poem Lucille typifies the feminist celebration of the female body. While the stereotypical image of a female during Clifton's lifetime might have been one who was thin, soft spoken and a housewife her poem fights that idea by stating that she big hips that do what they want. She refuses to conform to the image of a woman with thin hips, doesn't want to be held back by a male or feel like she can't do something simply because that's not the norm. In contrast she says that she can use her hips to "put a spell on a man and spin him like a top" meaning that she can get him to do what she wants instead of the other way around like the rest of society has conformed to.
No comments:
Post a Comment