what the mirror said

Clifton, Lucille

Primary Category: Literature / Poetry

Genre: Poem

Annotated by:
Aull, Felice
  • Date of entry: Jan-11-1999

Summary

The narrator is addressing her image in the mirror. "you . . . got a geography / of your own." The speaker takes pride in that body because it is not easily fathomed: "somebody need directions / to move around you." That body makes itself known. The concluding lines tell the "mister" who has presumed to handle that body that he "got his hands on / some / damn / body!"

Commentary

Written in the vernacular, the poem is a lively, humorous acknowledgment of girth and an assertion of self. It reminds us that we know our appearance only as an image in the mirror. The woman narrator is conscious of how her body projects itself to men. Perhaps her final defiance reflects her ambivalence toward this awareness. The poem is a companion piece to homage to my hips (see this database).

Primary Source

good woman: poems and a memoir, 1969-1980

Publisher

BOA

Publisher

BOA

Place Published

Brockport, N.Y.

Place Published

Brockport, N.Y.

Edition

1987

Edition

1987