Montgomery Fellow debuts work at Dartmouth
Lucille Clifton (Photo by Dette Tilman ’10/The Dartmouth)
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The Dartmouth community was treated to the warmth and wisdom of Lucille
Clifton during a poetry reading on Jan. 30. At the event, Clifton read a wide
range of poems including a new work, "Matoaka," which she rewrote at
Dartmouth in January. "Matoaka" is about the Powhatan Native American
woman commonly known as Pocahontas. It is published in this issue of Vox of
Dartmouth for the first time.
Winner of the National Book Award and a two-time Pulitzer Prize nominee,
Clifton is the Montgomery
Fellow this term.
After the reading, students commented on Clifton's magnetism. "I was
blown away when I met her," said Naomi Sosner '10, who interviewed Clifton
for The Dartmouth. "She won't
let you get away without laughing. She insists on hugging you. She's twice made
me tear up listening to her poems."
Delia Gorman '10 waited in line to have Clifton sign her notebook that she
uses for creative writing class. "I found myself writing down poetry ideas
during her talk," she said. "She's just so wise and
inspirational."
Denise Pearce Wright, a Dartmouth Dining Services employee, brought Clifton
flowers. "It was wonderful," said Wright. "She's such a free
person."
STEVEN J. SMITH
Matoaka
In the dream was white men walking up from the river
In the dream was our land stolen away and our horses and names
In the dream was my father fighting to save us
In the dream was the broken pipe
And I, leaning my body across the whimpering white man
'If your father loves revenge, more than he loves his children' spoke the
dream 'you need to know it, now'
Lucille Clifton, 2007
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