"won't you celebrate with me" is a poem by the American writer Lucille Clifton. One of Clifton's better-known works, "won't you celebrate with me" was published in Clifton's 1993 poetry collection Book of Light. Like much of her work, it explores the experience of being a black woman in frank, succinct language. The poem's speaker invites the addressee to celebrate with her, then explains her reason for celebration—namely, the fact that she has survived harrowing experiences of racism and sexism. The poem makes ample use of rhetorical questions and situational irony, and alludes to sources ranging from the Bible to Romantic poetry.
This work consists of a single fourteen-line stanza. It follows no strict rhyme scheme or meter, though it often falls into iambic rhythm and subtly displays slant rhyme and internal rhyme, as well as sound devices like assonance and alliteration. Despite its ironic, rueful commentary, and its exploration of serious issues of race and gender, the poem's tone is proud and dignified.
