Good Times pg. 349

Lucille Clifton makes a statement about poverty and the effects it can have on a child, and their view on the situation in impoverished homes. Clifton uses diction/language and syntax to make her statement.
Clifton uses diction/language to make a statement because the language used is that of one who is either younger and their language is one reflective of the environment he/she lives in or just uneducated because of the environment/situation at home. On the third line Clifton says “the lights is back on” instead of the lights are back on, which reflects on the home environment. Throughout the poem it mentions all the good things, such as the bread that mama has made, the rent is paid, there is no insurance man harassing them, there’s electricity, and there’s drunken singing and dancing. At this point, everybody is happy because it’s a good time. The important words are paid rent, no insurance man, the lights, bread, singing, dancing, and good times. In the second stanza, towards the end it says “these is good times” and “grampaw” yet again emphasizing the lack of proper language. The whole poem emphasizes the good times, which means there were bad times, when there was no singing and dancing, and no electricity. Everybody was probably upset and mad at the time, and there were bad times, and they have a negative effect on a child, just as the environment does. The last statement is really important because it says that the children must remember the good times, because there are going to be bad times, and the good times are what will get you through the worst of times.
Clifton uses syntax, but it is no t as detailed as the diction/language aspect of the poem, but equally important. The whole poem is one, huge run-on sentence with no punctuation at all. The sentence keeps going by a series of ands. This proves the negative aspects of the environment yet again. The child speaking is either young or uneducated because the proper language is not used. This proves yet again, that environment and poverty affect children and everything about them.
I really liked this poem because it is about those who are less fortunate, and those who are raised in poverty, and how they deal with it. I can picture this child speaking, and I see the environment he/she was raised in and how they learned what they did. This touched me on a personal level because it creates a story in my mind of one who grows up to be something from nothing just by remembering those “good times” and wanting all the time to be a “good time”.