HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALICE WALKER!

I’m thrilled to honor Alice Walker! I hope she has a wonderful birthday this week! I am a great fan of The Color Purple. The novel, written in letters is a masterpiece. It’s translation to film and even to the musical stage only served to strengthen my bond with this work of art. The Temple of My Familiar and Possessing the Secret of Joy also touched my soul. However, to celebrate her birthday, I decided to share an excerpt from a recent book of poetry. I think it captures the wonderful way we connect with those who came before us as we age.

I am connected

To all

Of this

By

My great

Grandmother’s Native

Name

Tallulah, i.e.,

Basket maker,

Which

Turning fifty

I began claiming As

My own

As I claim My kinswoman

Spider &

The brilliant

Ancestral

Body

Of Her art.

End of Excerpt the Moment I Saw Her, a poem in Absolute Trust in the Goodness of the Earth: New Poems by Alice Walker.

Thank you for the wonderful gifts you have given to all of us with your prose and poetry, Alice! Many happy returns of the day!

Best to you,

Lisa Lipkind Leibow

Author of Smart Women’s Fiction

www.LLLeibow.com

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