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!
[1987]
Clifton, Lucille.
"Conformity and Rebellion." Literature and Composition Reading Writing Thinking. Boston * New York: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2011. 932. Print.
People, but especially women,
have always been told to conform to society's views. They have to look a
certain way or do certain things to fit in. "homage to my hips" is a
form of rebellion, reacting to the way women are told to look and act. Women
have been told to be thin, to conform their bodies to the "perfect"
shape. In this poem, Clifton is exclaiming that she will not conform anymore. She
will treat her body the way it deserves to be treated; she cannot conform to
the way society thinks that women should look, so she isn't even going to try. She
talks about how her hips don’t "fit into little petty places," which
could be a suggestion that people who care about their body image are petty,
and care about what people think of them. She also is not going to act like
society thinks that women should act. She will do what she wants, and go where
she wants.
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