National Poetry Month: Lucille Clifton
In celebration of April as National Poetry Month, we are shining the spotlight on various Black poets who have written poems about food. In this first installment, we are honoring Lucille Clifton. Look below to find her poem “cutting greens” and an associated collard greens recipe. Born in 1936 in New York, Lucille Clifton’s poetry was discovered and published by Langston Hughes. Those commenting on her work are struck by the format – short, boiled down statements lacking capitalization and punctuation – which, by only including the essential, creates a profound visual. In an interview, Clifton reflected that “writing is a way of continuing to hope … perhaps for me it is a way of remembering I am not alone.”
cutting greens
curling them around
i hold their bodies in obscene embrace
thinking of everything but kinship.
collards and kale
strain against each strange other
away from my kissmaking hand and
the iron bedpot.
the pot is black,
the cutting board is black,
my hand,
and just for a minute
the greens roll black under the knife,
and the kitchen twists dark on its spine
and I taste in my natural appetite
the bond of live things everywhere.
Southern Collard Greens Recipe
by Quin Liburd
Ingredients:
2 tbsp vegetable or canola oil
2 lbs smoked meat (ham hocks or turkey wings)
1 large white onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp red pepper flakes
Salt & Pepper to taste
4 cups chicken stock
1 tsp hot sauce
1 tbsp packed brown sugar
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
3 lbs collard greens
Wash your greens with water and vinegar. De-stem (by preference) and roll up the green leaf to cut it into bite-sized pieces.
Heat the oil over medium-high. Swirl the pot to coat the bottom. Add in the meat and cook 2-3 minutes on each side.
Add onion and stir 4-5 minutes, or until onions are soft. Add garlic, red pepper, salt and pepper, stock, and hot sauce. Stir everything to combine.
Reduce to medium-low heat and cover pot. Let it simmer for 1 hour, do not stir.
Remove the meat from the pot and, after cooling down, debone and add back in.
Add in sugar, vinegar, and collard greens and stir well. Add 1/4 cup more stock if needed.
Cover the pot and leave over medium-low heat for 60-90 minutes.
Adjust seasonings to preference, and enjoy!
