What the mirror said by Lucille Clifton

What the mirror said

listen,

you a wonder.

you a city

of a woman.

you got a geography

of your own.

listen,

somebody need a map

to understand you.

somebody need directions

to move around you.  

listen,

woman,

you not a noplace

anonymous

girl;

mister with his hands on you

he got his hands on

some

damn

body!

            —Lucille Clifton

            Lucille Clifton is an African-American woman born in New York in 1936; her ancestry line traces back to West African Kingdom of Dahomey, I thought the background and ethnicity of Lucille Clifton made a lot of sense when reading this poem because her diction is very much typical of African-Americans.

            I like this poem because it makes me imagine looking in a mirror and having my reflection telling me that I’m beautiful and boosting my self-confidence. The theme of this poem is about boosting self-confidence in girls and women and teaching us to love ourselves by having the mirror be telling the woman that she is complex and wonderful. There’s also the message that no one truly knows  who we are inside; we aren’t simple people as much as others may try to make us believe we are; there’s so much to each and every one of us to explore – both for ourselves and the rest of the world to discover about us.

            This poem, to me, has a sort of sassy tone to it at the end when it says “mister with his hands on you he got his hands on some damn body!” but the entire poem seems to have an introspective and positive tone to it. In the afterthoughts of this poem, the reader should realize that true beauty comes from within as well as the outside appearance.

             In an age of such mixed and strict expectations of what women should look like and act, this poem does a very good job of encouraging women to think better of themselves. This is a good poem for young girls to read and understand.