SOURCE: “Poetry Celebrating Life,” in Alice Walker: Critical Perpectives, Past and Present, edited by Henry Louis Gate, Jr. and K. A. Appiah, 1993, pp. 179-92.

In the following essay, Nowak maintains that Walker's poetry successfully represents a personal journey toward self-knowledge and respect.

“And it was then that I knew that the healing / of all our wounds / is forgiveness / that permits a promise / of our return at the end”: These concluding lines of Alice Walker's third book of poetry, Good Night, Willie Lee, I'll See You in the Morning (1979), appropriately set the tone of the poet's voice and contain her essential message: a deep concern for all human beings, optimism and affirmation of life, the feeling of continuity, and a highly personal vision. To call her poems “hopeful strategies for recapturing one's humanity”¹ is, therefore, entirely apposite. The whole title poem includes another typical feature: Walker draws on a...