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The Terrible Stories
The long-awaited tenth collection of poetry from the Shelley Memorial Prize-winning poet Lucille Clifton.
70 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 1996
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265 people want to read
About the author
Lucille Clifton
82 books439 followersLucille Clifton was an American poet, writer, and educator from New York. Common topics in her poetry include the celebration of her African American heritage, and feminist themes, with particular emphasis on the female body.
She was the first person in her family to finish high school and attend college. She started Howard University on scholarship as a drama major but lost the scholarship two years later.
Thus began her writing career.
Good Times, her first book of poems, was published in 1969. She has since been nominated twice for the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry and has been honored as Maryland's Poet Laureate.
Ms. Clifton's foray into writing for children began with Some of the Days of Everett Anderson, published in 1970.
In 1976, Generations: A Memoir was published. In 2000, she won the National Book Award for Poetry, for her work "Poems Seven".
From 1985 to 1989, Clifton was a professor of literature and creative writing at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She was Distinguished Professor of Humanities at St. Mary's College of Maryland. From 1995 to 1999, she was a visiting professor at Columbia University. In 2006, she was a fellow at Dartmouth College.
Clifton received the Robert Frost Medal for lifetime achievement posthumously, from the Poetry Society of America.
She was the first person in her family to finish high school and attend college. She started Howard University on scholarship as a drama major but lost the scholarship two years later.
Thus began her writing career.
Good Times, her first book of poems, was published in 1969. She has since been nominated twice for the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry and has been honored as Maryland's Poet Laureate.
Ms. Clifton's foray into writing for children began with Some of the Days of Everett Anderson, published in 1970.
In 1976, Generations: A Memoir was published. In 2000, she won the National Book Award for Poetry, for her work "Poems Seven".
From 1985 to 1989, Clifton was a professor of literature and creative writing at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She was Distinguished Professor of Humanities at St. Mary's College of Maryland. From 1995 to 1999, she was a visiting professor at Columbia University. In 2006, she was a fellow at Dartmouth College.
Clifton received the Robert Frost Medal for lifetime achievement posthumously, from the Poetry Society of America.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews
January 28, 2021
4.5 // ending a collection with the image of a harp...legend.
fave poems:
"rust" (this might be my favorite clifton poem ever)
"amazons"
"1994"
"hag riding"
"shadows"
"entering the south" (😭)
"[evening and my dead once husband]"
fave poems:
"rust" (this might be my favorite clifton poem ever)
"amazons"
"1994"
"hag riding"
"shadows"
"entering the south" (😭)
"[evening and my dead once husband]"
March 31, 2008
This particular Clifton book of poems was very emotional and I remember getting a sense that she was dealing with violent experiences through writing. The book had great subtlety, but there was something about it that felt a little too inaccessible, a little too distant. I didn't feel let in enough. She did translate some strong emotions, but their was a vague opacity to the whole thing. Maybe the idea of something latent was part of what she wanted to communicate.
January 12, 2020
The title does not lie. These poems are full of sadness, fear, and rage. Spare and powerful.
July 19, 2020
Goodness, every word is powerful. A must read.
August 15, 2024
Favorite Poems: “leaving fox” / “memphis” / [evening and my dead once husband] / “memory” / “beloved”
October 22, 2025
Another for the collection of books I got from the library and loved reading so much that I end up wishing I owned.
November 19, 2008
Poetry. I bought this volume for the fox poems, specifically "telling our stories," which is my favorite. I've always liked Clifton's spare style and simple language, the sense of rhythm that makes her poems sound so good out loud, but a lot of these just didn't gel for me. I failed completely at the last section; it was way too Biblical and I lacked the references to complete the metaphor.
Some favorites: telling our stories, leaving fox, hag riding, from the cadaver, the mississippi river empties into the gulf, blake.
Three stars, because even though a lot of these poems didn't work for me, it's still Lucille Clifton.
Some favorites: telling our stories, leaving fox, hag riding, from the cadaver, the mississippi river empties into the gulf, blake.
Three stars, because even though a lot of these poems didn't work for me, it's still Lucille Clifton.
February 23, 2018
Pulled this book off the library shelf yesterday when a wave of poetry longing passed over me. Lucille Clifton doesn't disappoint. Her voice is clear, direct, and goes straight to the heart. When I read her poetry, I feel the beauty of her stark presence in my head, her "terrible" or (better) awesome power to infuse a simple, unadorned address with the fire of emotional truth. After putting her collection down, I am left with the impression of her down-to-earth witness. It's as if I've spent an hour in her kitchen and she's given me a sense of melancholy joy to take home with me.
October 20, 2020
"the mississippi rivers empties into the gulf
and the gulf enters the sea and so forth,
none of them emptying anything,
all of them carrying yesterday
forever on their white tipped backs,
all of them dragging forward tomorrow.
it is the great circulation
of the earth's body, like the blood
of the gods, this river in which the past
is always flowing. every water
is the same water coming round.
everyday someone is standing on the edge
of this river, staring into time,
whispering mistakenly:
only here. only now."
and the gulf enters the sea and so forth,
none of them emptying anything,
all of them carrying yesterday
forever on their white tipped backs,
all of them dragging forward tomorrow.
it is the great circulation
of the earth's body, like the blood
of the gods, this river in which the past
is always flowing. every water
is the same water coming round.
everyday someone is standing on the edge
of this river, staring into time,
whispering mistakenly:
only here. only now."
September 22, 2024
I read a larger book of the collected poetry of Lucille Clifton earlier this year and enjoyed it. I picked up this book because it was thin and would help me make progress on my reading goal and I didn't make the connection to the other book until I started to read. Some of the poems from the other book (Blessing the Boats) which I found the most impactful were also in this book and they were just as powerful this time. Again, this is poetry by an African American woman who has encapsulated experiences I can only guess at, but there are points of connection. The job of poetry (to the extent that it has a job) is to offer points of connection between two souls and thereby hold the universe together.
A couple excerpts
from 1994
you know that the saddest lies
are the ones we tell ourselves
you know how dangerous that is
******
an untitled poem
the son of medgar
will son be older than medgar
he came he says
to show in this courtroom
medgar's face
the old man sits
turned toward his old wife
then turns away
he is sick
the old wife sighs
he is only a sick old man
medgar isn't
wasn't
won't be.
A couple excerpts
from 1994
you know that the saddest lies
are the ones we tell ourselves
you know how dangerous that is
******
an untitled poem
the son of medgar
will son be older than medgar
he came he says
to show in this courtroom
medgar's face
the old man sits
turned toward his old wife
then turns away
he is sick
the old wife sighs
he is only a sick old man
medgar isn't
wasn't
won't be.
November 26, 2022
Some highlights of this collection include the fox poems at the very beginning, a few of the David poems at the very end, and the poem about Blake. I've read now almost everything Clifton has written, and if I'm honest, her lack of development and diversity over her long career has led me to some fatigue with her work. I think if one were to take the top 10% of her poems, and put them in a "best of," you might have one really strong collection, and a few poems here would make it into such a book. A lot of her work blends together over time and isn't too memorable, so that I too often find myself mindlessly reading through at times and I need to refocus and reread just to get a sense of her intentions. Not a bad collection, but not a memorable one either.
June 28, 2019
As Lucille Clifton faced multiple diagnoses, treatment, sickness, and loss, she continued to write. In fact, she published four of her collections of poetry between 1995 and 2008. Her poetry grew out of the totality of her life experiences, the obstacles she faced, her perceptions, and her understanding of evolving human conditions. Her poems about cancer were written amid her other poetry, as part of the tapestry of her creative life.
BY GAYLE SULIK,
ON DECEMBER 27TH, 2010
April 18, 2023
blake
saw them glittering in the trees,
their quills erect among the leaves,
angels everywhere. we need new words
for what this is, this hunger entering our
loneliness like birds, stunning our eyes into rays
of hope. we need the flutter that can save
us, something that will swirl across the face
of what we have become and bring us grace.
back north, i sit again in my own home
dreaming of blake, searching the branches
for just one poem.
saw them glittering in the trees,
their quills erect among the leaves,
angels everywhere. we need new words
for what this is, this hunger entering our
loneliness like birds, stunning our eyes into rays
of hope. we need the flutter that can save
us, something that will swirl across the face
of what we have become and bring us grace.
back north, i sit again in my own home
dreaming of blake, searching the branches
for just one poem.
February 26, 2019
Reading The Terrible Stories this morning made me see the cohesion of this collection, along with the powerful, confident, unapologetic voice of Lucille Clifton. I will definitely be seeking out more of her work.
June 5, 2022
I find myself being drawn especially to Clifton’s take on religious figures. Her characterizations especially are so succinct and poignant - and sometimes only in 8 lines or less. “From the book of David” specifically spoke to me. I can’t wait to explore Clifton’s work further.
October 17, 2022
I loved these poems. The magic and lyricism of her words, the power of her insights keep washing over me. It is remarkable what she does with a few lines. Struggle, struggle, struggle - for me to find the way to such power through a few words. But this book is an inspiration.
October 24, 2017
what is the splendor of one breast
on one woman?
you will rise to the machine.
if someone should touch you now
his hand would flower.
on one woman?
you will rise to the machine.
if someone should touch you now
his hand would flower.
September 8, 2018
A lovely, immaculate collection of poems. All aspiring poets should be lucky enough find and read this book sometime early in their writing lives.
March 31, 2019
I usually like Clifton's poetry, but many of these left me cold or in the dark. I suspect the fault may be mine in that we come from different backgrounds, different traditions.
November 10, 2020
Short but powerful. My first book of poems by her, but hopefully not my last.
August 15, 2021
Such a great collection. I'm reading Clifton's poetry while reading The Body Keeps Score by Bessel, and it's such a great pairing. Clifton's poetry is nourishment for the spirit.
December 28, 2021
Beautiful, haunting, sad
January 6, 2022
Lucille Clifton finds beauty and pain in everyday life, history, and biblical narrative.
Read
October 25, 2022"i am grown old and full of days.
my thighs are trembling.
what will the world remember,
what matters to time,
i wonder,
the dancer or the dance?"
my thighs are trembling.
what will the world remember,
what matters to time,
i wonder,
the dancer or the dance?"
February 18, 2024
A Dream of Foxes felt like it was written specifically for me. It is everything I want to do with my own poetry. Lucille was a gift we don't deserve.
January 31, 2025
3.5. ✦
''what the of the moon, the bed, the poetry of regret?.''
''why am i not feeding, not being fed?''
''what the of the moon, the bed, the poetry of regret?.''
''why am i not feeding, not being fed?''
June 16, 2025
(3.5 stars)
March 25, 2015
I can't possibly give this book less than four stars, because omgLucilleClifton!!!1, but I didn't feel quite strongly enough about it to give it five. I think what got me was that the collection seemed to vary so widely in such a small space, in metaphor, subject matter, and style. If there had been a larger amount of poetry, I probably would have appreciated the book as a whole more.
What I most appreciate in this book are the second and third sections. I don't find much poetry dealing with illness or disease like the second section seems to deal with breast cancer, and I can always appreciate a person pondering their heritage like the third section does.
There were, I think, a total of four poems I actually copied out from the collection. The two that stand out most were "shadows", which about kill me with emotion on the first reading, and "evening and my dead once husband", which of course hits home perfectly with the last line. Other favorites were "dear fox", "consulting the book of changes: radiation", and "blake".
Still, as a poet in general, I feel Clifton deserves five stars. She's versatile and beautiful in every way a poet should be; it's just this collection as a whole I have a problem with.
What I most appreciate in this book are the second and third sections. I don't find much poetry dealing with illness or disease like the second section seems to deal with breast cancer, and I can always appreciate a person pondering their heritage like the third section does.
There were, I think, a total of four poems I actually copied out from the collection. The two that stand out most were "shadows", which about kill me with emotion on the first reading, and "evening and my dead once husband", which of course hits home perfectly with the last line. Other favorites were "dear fox", "consulting the book of changes: radiation", and "blake".
Still, as a poet in general, I feel Clifton deserves five stars. She's versatile and beautiful in every way a poet should be; it's just this collection as a whole I have a problem with.
November 21, 2025
Delicate, simple, emotional and very subtle poems. I liked it but would probably have to read it again to really let the poems sink in.
April 9, 2013
My first encounter with Clifton, whose reputation, needless to say, preceded her. I have to admit I doubted for most of the first half of the book, grasping at something to really engage me, not finding many pieces that made me feel much of anything. But beginning with section 4 (of 5) I began to be steadily blown away by Clifton's command of myth & surprise, and her ability to offer the most brutal images in the most lyrical verse. Ex. from the poem lorena:
"it lay in my palm soft and trembled/
as a new bird..."
Yeah, took me a second to get the reference, then I was like "DAMN!"
Much of the back end of the book is like that.
I didn't love this collection, but it's plenty enough to make me read more Clifton.
Personal Highlights:
--old man river
--what did she know, when did she know it
--lorena
--david has slain his ten thousands
--what manner of man
"it lay in my palm soft and trembled/
as a new bird..."
Yeah, took me a second to get the reference, then I was like "DAMN!"
Much of the back end of the book is like that.
I didn't love this collection, but it's plenty enough to make me read more Clifton.
Personal Highlights:
--old man river
--what did she know, when did she know it
--lorena
--david has slain his ten thousands
--what manner of man
Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews