"Homage to My Hips" is poet Lucille Clifton's poem about body positivity, evolving beauty standards, and loving herself. In it, she shows her hips and who she is as a woman. Her hips, which are characteristically feminine, show how independent, free, and strong she truly is.
Initially, Clifton describes her hips as "big" and "mighty," thereby rejecting societal expectations that often demand women fit into narrow definitions of beauty—definitions that don't include "big" and "mighty" hips. Traditionally, women were expected to have small and petite hips; Clifton shows that she's no different than anyone else—she just has different hips.
Throughout the poem, Clifton makes a point to emphasize the movement of her hips. She says that they go "where they want to go" and "do what they want to do," for instance. People who are able to move freely have agency over themselves and their actions. Like people, Clifton shows that her hips have agency. Clifton wrote the poem in a time when women had fewer rights than men; many women had their movements controlled by the men in their lives. This poem and the movement of Clifton's hips are a protest against the limitations many women faced in that patriarchal society.
When Clifton says, "These hips have never been enslaved," it serves a dual purpose. On a personal level, it's about her agency, but in the broader context, it evokes the history of African American enslavement. Her hips, like many hips (and women) that came before them, represent the fight against injustice, racism, and tyranny.
