[CLAPPING]
I am very pleased to be here.
I went to the desert today, and I love Arizona.
And I felt like the ground that I walked on was holy,
and I felt like apologizing for stepping on the earth.
I rarely know what I'm going to read,
so that's why I have these books.
So don't get nervous because I'm not going to read all that.
I also would like to say that I always like to say,
in case it is not mentioned, my proudest things, that
is Lucille Clifton is a mother of six people
and the grandmother of the seventh best baby on earth.
I'd like to start with my most universal poem.
That's because sometimes people think that a Black poet cannot
be universal, and I believe that it is so.
And it has been proven to me that it is so
because of this poem.
It is called "Homage to my Hips,"
and I have to step out now, Sissy.
Now, then you'll know why I wrote this.
"Homage to my Hips"
"These hips are big hips.
They need space to move around in.
They don't fit into little petty places.
These hips are free hips.
They don't like to be held back.
These hips have never been enslaved.
They go where they want to go.
They do what they want to do.
These hips are mighty hips.
These hips are magic hips.
I have known them to put a spell on a man and spin him like
a top. "
[APPLAUSE]
[LAUGHING] Thank you.