Breaklight by Lucille Clifton
Breaklight
Lucille Cliftonlight keeps on breaking.
i keep knowing
the language of other nations.
i keep hearing
tree talk
water words
and i keep knowing what they mean.
and light just keeps on breaking.
last night
the fears of my mother came
knocking and when i
opened the door
they tried to explain themselves
and i understood
everything they said.
SELECTED BY SABA KERAMATI
This poem is one I come back to often in order to remind me that humans are not alone on this earth. Trees, water, memories, and ancestors all live with us. I try my best to listen to them.
ABOUT SABA KERAMATI
Saba Keramati is a Chinese-Iranian writer from California. She is the author of Self-Mythology (University of Arkansas Press, 2024). She is the poetry editor for Sundog Lit and serves as a board member for RAWI.
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SHARED WITH GRATITUDE
This poem appeared in Get Lit Anthology, 2026.
ABOUT LUCILLE CLIFTON
Lucille Clifton was born in Depew, New York, on June 27, 1936. Her first book of poems, Good Times (Random House, 1969), was rated one of the best books of the year by the New York Times. Clifton’s honors include an Emmy Award from the American Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, a Lannan Literary Award, two fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Shelley Memorial Award, the YM-YWHA Poetry Center Discovery Award, and the 2007 Ruth Lilly Prize. Lucille Clifton died… (more)
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ENDNOTES
- This is Day 81 of Poems We Carry, celebrating the 20th anniversary of Read A Little Poetry—a living archive I’ve nurtured for two decades. For this milestone series, I invited writers I deeply admire to share poems that have meant something to them over time.
- Explore other works in pursuit of: light • awakening • heritage • Or browse the index
- If this work resonates with you, please consider supporting the archive. Thank you for reading.
