WEBVTT

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[CLAPPING]

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I am very pleased to be here.

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I went to the desert
today, and I love Arizona.

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And I felt like the ground
that I walked on was holy,

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and I felt like apologizing
for stepping on the earth.

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I rarely know what
I'm going to read,

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so that's why I
have these books.

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So don't get nervous because
I'm not going to read all that.

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I also would like to say
that I always like to say,

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in case it is not mentioned,
my proudest things, that

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is Lucille Clifton is
a mother of six people

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and the grandmother of the
seventh best baby on earth.

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I'd like to start with
my most universal poem.

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That's because sometimes people
think that a Black poet cannot

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be universal, and I
believe that it is so.

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And it has been proven
to me that it is so

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because of this poem.

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It is called
"Homage to my Hips,"

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and I have to step
out now, Sissy.

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Now, then you'll know
why I wrote this.

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"Homage to my Hips"

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"These hips are big hips.

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They need space
to move around in.

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They don't fit into
little petty places.

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These hips are free hips.

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They don't like to be held back.

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These hips have
never been enslaved.

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They go where they want to go.

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They do what they want to do.

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These hips are mighty hips.

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These hips are magic hips.

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I have known them to put a
spell on a man and spin him like

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a top. "

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[APPLAUSE]

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[LAUGHING] Thank you.

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