File, Digital Video

Lucille Clifton
Morning Discussion
4/14/00

Digital video captured from a Video8 tape containing footage of both Lucille Clifton's masterclass session, and the dinner reception and writing awards both held on April 14, 2000 in conjunction with Marygrove College's 11th Annual Contemporary American Authors Lecture.

The tape opens with a series of title cards. The masterclass portion follows. This event is hosted by Dr. Frank Rashid, and Dr. Loretta Woodard provides and introduction for Lucille Clifton. Shortly after taking the podium, Clifton opens the floor to questions from the attendees. Her responses to these deal with "breaking rules" of capitalization and punctuation, her definition of poetry, what she likes about her work, finding the time to write while being a mother, what she likes to read, inspiration, drawing material from her life, writer's block, her favorite piece ("Flowers," which she then recites), her fondness for the Biblical figure King David, her poems about Lucifer, her fox poems and writing about topics that may make people uncomfortable, the inspiration for "Wishes for Sons," advice for writing metaphors, how her mother installed a love of poetry in her (here, she recites "Abou Ben Adhem" by Leigh Hunt), the difference between writing poetry and writing children's books, dealing with topics like slavery and cancer, her family history and "Generations: A Memoir," when readers interpret works differently than her intent, and working with a publisher and editor. After a short cut, Clifton is presented with a gift, which she then opens while recounting being a five-time Jeopardy champion. Dr. Rashid then provides some closing remarks about the event's website, and the evening's reading.

Following another short gap, title cards appear for the Dinner and Writing Awards portion of the tape. The dinner reception is hosted by Marygove's president, Dr. Glenda Price. Mary Helen Washington, a previous guest of the program, provides some remarks, as do event co-chairs Nettie H. Seabrooks, S. Martin Taylor, and Lillian Bauder. Dr. Frank Rashid, the Chair of English and Modern Languages, then presents awards to the winners of the McCombs-Currier Writing Awards. The program ends with some brief words from Lucille Clifton.