Hey listeners, I'm here to tell you about an exciting event that's happening on Sunday, May 4th.

It is called Stack the Shelves, and it is a special pop-up bookshop that the Stacks is hosting,

dedicated to supporting individuals and families impacted by the recent Los Angeles wildfires.

We're going to have books, author signings, a kid's corner, food, music, lawn games, special guests,

and more. And so now here's the part where I turn to you, the amazing stacks community,

and ask you for help. In order to make this day a smashing success, we need volunteers,

local to Los Angeles. We need your donations, which will be tax deductible

thanks to our partners at L.A. Room and Board, a fantastic nonprofit. 100% of your donations

will go directly to families, including gift cards to Octavia's bookshelf so they can continue

to build their libraries. And we need your help spreading the word. Head to the snackspodcast.com slash shelves to get all

the details. Again, that is the stacks podcast.com slash shelves. I think there's a way in which her poems just

remind me of like an auntie at the kitchen table. It's giving auntie energy, big auntie energy,

which if you know the aunt, you go to for wisdom and for laughter. There's always a knife

moment where like you think you're safe and then she just, she gets you. And you're like, whoa,

that just really like kind of cut through through me in a very clear way. But there's a clarity.

There's a good, there's just crystalline clarity to her work.

Welcome to The Stacks, a podcast about books and the people who read them.

I'm your host, Tracy Thomas, and it is the Stacks Book Club Day. To wrap up National Poetry Month, we will be discussing Blessing the Boats by Lucille Clifton with our

returning guest, poet and essayist Tiana Clark. Today, Tiana and I discuss the brilliance of

Lucille Clifton from her ability to write a short searing poem to encapsulating the persona of

others and finding the humor in life.

We also talk about the importance of references and poems and the invitation to readers

...