Rebellion and Conformity Poems-Rachel Hart

Homage to My Hips 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! This poem rebellion is seen through a women's struggle with the world's standards of what a woman should look like. "They don't fit into little petty places." Clifton doesn't feel as though she should have to meet someone else's standards so long as she is happy with herself. Today, women are seen as beautiful if they are small and thin. Clifton in turn is rebelling against this notion and declaring that "these hips are free hips. they don't like to be held back.", not only is she talking about her hips but also the definition of beauty and how it applies to her. She not only is taking a stand on the beliefs of beauty in the world around her but also the gender inequality that she faces. She says, "i have known them to put a spell on a man and spin him like a top!" showing the power that women have to influence men and come to not only the same level but possibly higher. Clifton, Lucille. "Homage to My Hips." Poetry Foundation. Poetry Foundation, n.d. Web. 05 Nov. 2014. http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/179615