What the mirror said

I like this poem :) The last five lines felt kind of out of place the first time I read it though, but the more I read it, the more I kind of saw how it relates to the anger / pride the narrator feels.

This poem is one stanza long with no rhyme scheme, but it does sound like Lucille Clifton is trying to have a conversation with the reader because she speaks in a very informal way. She does this to connect with her audience -- which she manages to do.

The beginning of the poem is her describing the complexities of women. "Somebody need a map to understand you."
However, she doesn't say that women are complex in a bad way; she says it almost as to say to embrace it and that it is beautiful.

Then towards the end, Clifton becomes more aggressive and almost sassy when she says

"Mister with his hands on you
He got his hands on
Some
Dam
Body!"

I think what she's saying here is that women are not merely objects but people too. And how the title is "What the mirror said" I believe that this is a reference to how women analyze every detail in front of the mirror, and how we, as women, need to quit worrying so much about appearance. Personally, I loved this poem and I'm all about the woman power Clifton portrays in this poem :)