Walker's poems [in Good Night Willie Lee, I'll See You in the Morning]—dealing with her parents (Willie Lee is her father), friends and lovers, black history—use clean, clear language and syntax. Sometimes they address the reader directly; often they carry morals and are written as allegories, somewhat reminiscent of Stephen Crane's little symbolic story-poems: "Never offer your heart / to someone who eats hearts / who finds heartmeat / delicious / but not rare / who sucks the juices / drop by drop / and bloody-chinned / grins / like a God."

Michael Dirda, "In Praise of Poetry," in Book World—The Washington Post (© 1979, The Washington Post), December 9, 1979, p. 11.∗