they donothave rather than by what they do
have. Put another way, the unspoken assumption
is that the first term in each pair above is the
normative term, while the second can be defined
by its deviation from the norm. Western thought
has traditionally privileged logic, science, and
authority over intuition, magic, and experience.
Clifton’s project, then, constitutes nothing
less than an overturning of this entire tradition.
Instead of allowing herself to be defined by what
she is not, Clifton asserts what she is: a woman of
fair proportions, a woman who can destroy both
racial and patriarchal injustice through the
power of her words. She does this in part
through the invocation of magic. According to
Mance:
When Clifton assigns to her black female sub-
jects fantastic traits and mythical capabilities
that exceed the boundaries of traditional wom-
anhood, their flagrant disregard for the roles
that would limit their function and meaning
challenges the positionality of those institu-
tions and identity groups whose visibility
depends upon the preservation of blackness
and womanhood as opposing categories.
The ‘‘positionality’’ that Clifton challenges
is the position of privilege. Without the ability to
impose rules or standards on Clifton’s magical
women, privileged groups can no longer sustain
the myth that their position of privilege is inher-
ent in their being. Rather, it becomes clear that
their position of privilege has been maintained
only through the acquiescence of those who
accept their power. Once women accept their
own magical nature, they can emancipate them-
selves from those who would bind them. With
the introduction of magic in the last four lines of
‘‘homage to my hips,’’ Clifton associates herself
with African, feminine, intuitive, supernatural
power, and with a long line of spell casters. She
is capable of directing her magic at a man and
utterly confusing him, setting his head and his
body spinning.
Clifton also defeats the powers that would
bind her by turning their own language against
them. A closer examination of the title of the
poem reveals that Clifton has engaged in a lin-
guistic pun. In contemporary English, the word
‘‘homage’’ means respect and reverence. This is a
generalization, however, of a term that had a
very specific meaning in the Middle Ages:hom-
agewas the term used for the acknowledgment
by a vassal that he owed his lord loyalty and
service. Indeed, the vassal pledged his very
body to his lord. This was not an abstract con-
cept but rather the very real and very concrete
promise of one man to another that he accepted
the lord’s superiority and that he would die for
the lord. In exchange, the vassal could expect
protection and provisions from the lord. The
wordhomageitself can be traced back to the
Latin word for man.
Thus, the title of Clifton’s poem can be read
in two ways: In the first and most common read-
ing, the poet herself pays respect and reverence
to her hips in a playful, alliterative gesture. That
she uses a word associated with men renders the
title even more clever. In the second reading,
Clifton demands homage to her magical hips,
and by extension to her magical body, and by
even further extension to the magical bodies of
all women of color—and even further, to all
women. The homage she demands is not that of
a vassal to a lord or that of a slave to a slave-
holder. Rather, the homage she demands is the
free acknowledgment from human brothers that
she and her hips have assumed their rightful
position in the family of humankind. Clifton’s
‘‘homage to my hips’’ is an expression of libera-
tion and empowerment.
Source:Diane Andrews Henningfeld, Critical Essay on
‘‘homage to my hips,’’ inPoetry for Students, Gale, Cen-
gage Learning, 2009.Michael S. Glaser
In the following excerpt from an interview, Clifton
talks about her memories and the role her memo-
ries play in her writing.
...Michael Glaser: Lucille, you often state
that writing for you is linked to being human, to
your own staying awake and your desire that the
world stay awake. Would you talk a little bit about
that? Whydoyou write?
Lucille Clifton:Well, it always seemed to be
something that came very naturally to me, toIF YOU BEAR WITNESS, YOU REMAIN ROOTED IN
SOME WAY. YOU CONTINUE TO FEEL WHAT YOU SEE
MATTERS. WHAT YOU HEAR MATTERS. IT’S A WAY TO
CONNECT FULLY, INSTEAD OF JUST INTELLECTUALLY.’’homage to my hips