While reading this poem, I felt I had a connection with Lucille Clifton. Lines 1-3, the very first person I thought about was myself, because I did not have the best role model while growing up. Ever since I was about 8 years old I started to mature faster than my older brother, 14 years old at the time, and he would always make fun of me. I have turned into a determined, kind, respectful young women, and I give myself every single bit of credit because although my brother was not a female, he did not show me what it meant to work hard for your goals. At lines 13-14, I feel like she's saying that because she was a women during the Jim Crow Era, that people tried to bring her sown or prevent her from creating her own type of success. Again,
