September Suite

“September Suite” is rooted in Clifton’s personal experience of September 11, 2001 as an African American woman. Clifton calls herself “a noticing kind of person,” explaining that to be true to herself and her art, she must talk about that unique experience in her poetry (“Morning Edition: ‘September Suite’.” National Public Radio, 2002). Clifton wrote “September Suite” over the course of a couple of days in September, feeling back to each day. For Clifton, poetry is “a matter of balance between intuition and intellect.” Details from the poems, such as the comments about Arab children in “Wednesday 9/12/01” are quotes from Clifton’s memory. While these poems reflect real-world events and sentiments, they are less of a historical account than they are a map of Clifton’s consciousness as she remembers what she saw, heard, thought, and felt throughout the week.

Clifton wrote “September Suite” well into her long, illustrious career. A seasoned professor at the time, she recalled eating lunch at St. Mary’s College as she watched the Twin Towers fall on television (“Poet Lucille Clifton Reads a Poem About the Days Surrounding Sept. 11.” PBS News Hour, 2006). She had just been elected a Chancellor of the American Academy of Poets in 1999 and was less than a decade away from the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize. Clifton sent the manuscript of “September Suite” to The Academy of American Poets in late September. The poems were anthologized in September 11, 2001: American Writers Respond (2002), and they were published under the title “September Song” in her 2004 book of poetry, Mercy.