By Lucille Clifton
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!
Lucille, Clifton. "Homage to My Hips." Poetry Foundation. Poetry Foundation, n.d. Web. 05 Nov. 2014.< http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/179615>.
Women have historically been repressed my men and society as a whole. They have been expected to act a certain way, to dress a certain way, and to be appear a certain way to society and the rest of the world. In this poem, Lucille is passively rebelling against this common sense of conformity. She uses the image of her hips, a very feminine body part, going where they want to go, as a symbol for her inner spirit. The narrator speaks for herself and other women when she says she wants to go and do as she pleases, just like her hips. She uses these empowering words to rebel against the conformity society expects of her and other women. Her poetry is a passive start to a rebellious movement.
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