Homage to my hips is a poem written by Lucille Clifton. The speaker in this poem is a woman. It is a poem where the speaker has a lot of praise for her hips. The woman in this poem has embraced her femininity and body. She is comfortable with the big hips, and she believes that they are part of her body. This woman tries to convey the message of acceptance of one's body, and she is urging other women to do the same. Because accepting one's unnatural body parts is not something to expect from most people. Hence the woman in the poem calls it "homage" to her hips to show that the big hips are part of her and that's why she is praising them.
The woman in the poem narrates how her big hips require space to move, and this shows how big she believes they are both physically and metaphorically. The speaker in this poem does not hold back, and she seems to not care on people's opinion, and this makes the poem personal and honest. From the line , “they don't fit into little petty places" the lady in the poem is proving that she is comfortable of having hips that may not fit in places like cinema seats, airplanes or being covered in magazine covers as a model. She is a proud woman with big hips.
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The woman in the poem believes her hips are free and nothing at all can hold them back and not even those petty places make her feel bad. She is sure the only thing that matters to her is the hips and that things that can try to hold her back are not even worth mentioning. The lady also has a firm conviction that these hips are not subject to any slavery; that's why they can move freely and do whatever they wish to. The woman is showing a lot of optimism, and she seems confident about the security of her freedom. Our speaker seems to be enjoying having these hips a lot because she believes they are magical; they seem to be something that brings back life into her. From her description of the hips she accepts they are seductive and they spin men.
In conclusion, we have identified the speaker of the poem as a woman. A woman who is so confident of her body and she is the type of woman that all women dream of becoming. The speaker knows the society's problem on female bodies, but any of this does not falter the woman. This a great piece with lots of advice to other women to believe in what they are.
