"the earth is a living thing" by Lucille Clifton

Transcript

Transcript

the earth is a living thing

BY LUCILLE CLIFTON

is a black shambling bear
ruffling its wild back and tossing
mountains into the sea

is a black hawk circling
the burying ground circling the bones
picked clean and discarded

is a fish black blind in the belly of water
is a diamond blind in the black belly of coal

is a black and living thing
is a favorite child
of the universe
feel her rolling her hand
in its kinky hair
feel her brushing it clean

Description

The 24th U.S. Poet Laureate, Ada Limón, reads the poem "the earth is a living thing" by Lucille Clifton. Limón selected the poem for a poetry installation at Great Smoky National Park as part of her signature project "You Are Here: Poetry in Parks."

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