the lost women I need to know their names those women I would have walked with, jauntily the way men go in groups swinging their arms, and the ones those sweating women whom I would have joined After a hard game to chew the fat what would we have called each other laughing joking into our beer? where are my gangs, my teams, my mislaid sisters? all the women who could have known me, where in the world are their names?

Moores (Trinity University Press). She went on to study on a scholarship at Howard University from 1953 to 1955 and after leaving over poor grades studied at the State University of New York at Fredonia (near Buffalo). In 1984 her husband died of cancer.

Lucille Clifton (June 27 1936 Depew New York – February 13 2010 Baltimore Maryland ) was an American writer and educator from Buffalo New York. Common topics in her poetry include the celebration of her African American heritage and feminist themes with particular emphasis on the female body. From 1979–1985 Lucille Clifton was Poet Laureate of Maryland.