wishes for sons

“wishes for sons” was written by poet Lucille Clifton and published in her sixth collection of poetry, Next: New Poems (1987). Next: New Poems was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize alongside Clifton’s collected works, Good Woman: Poems and a Memoir: 1969-1980, in the year 1987. “wishes for sons” describes the commonplace burdens that exist at the intersection of girlhood and womanhood, exposing how those burdens are too often misunderstood, dismissed, or altogether unknown to cisgender men (see: Summary). Clifton interrogates the normalized pain and suffering women and people who menstruate endure based on sex and gender, subverting readers’ expectations by wishing these experiences upon her own sons (see: Poem Analysis).

Clifton is committed to truth-telling in the face of societal silence. Her poetry combines the razor-sharp wit and identity politics of Gwendolyn Brooks with the distinct stylistic choices of Emily Dickinson. Clifton’s poetry offers readers a way forward through the sexism and racism of the past and present moment through her optimistic, albeit realistic, verse.

Poet Biography

Lucille Clifton was an African American poet, writer, and educator born in DePew, New York on June 27, 1936. Clifton grew up in Buffalo, New York, where she graduated early from the City Honors School at the age of 16 (1953).