National Poetry Month— Nikki Giovanni, Ever Evolving

Young Nikki Giovaniti

Nikki Giovanni was born in 1943 in Knoxville, Tennessee in a close knit family.  She was inspired by her grandmother, a natural story teller, to explore the use of words.  After growing up in a middle class Black suburb of Columbus, Ohio, she attended Fisk University in Nashville, one of the most prestigious of the historically Black colleges.

At Fisk not only did she find her voice as a poet and writer, but she was immersed in the Civil Rights movement and the growing militancy of emerging Black Power.  She served as editor of the campus literary magazine, participated in the Fisk Writers Workshop, and helped re-build the Fisk chapter of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC).  After graduation in turbulent 1968 Giovanni went on to graduate studies at the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University in New York.

Giovanitti's angry and militant early books earned her a reputation as a Revolutionary poet.

While still an undergraduate Giovanni published her first collection of poetry, Black Feeling, Black Talk in 1967 in response to the assignations of Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, Medgar Evers, and Robert Kennedy.  A year later she followed up with Black Judgment, an exploration and appreciation of Black militancy.  The two books catapulted her into the front ranks of a new generation of poets and one who had appeal to wider audiences.  A third volume, Re: Creation published in 1970 cemented her place as a leading young black voice.  She was soon embarked on popular readings, often incorporating black music.

Giovanni took a teaching position at Rutgers University and gave birth to her son Thomas.  She worked to help other Black writers find outlets through NikTom, Ltd., a publishing cooperative which published Gwendolyn Brooks, Margaret Walker, Carolyn Rodgers, and Mari Evans.

As Giovnni matured as a poet and woman her interests broadened.  She continued to write in clear, accessible language about her life and experiences, but later work was not as explicitly political as her early efforts.

She also began writing for children and young people beginning with Spin a Soft Black Song in 1971 and continuing through her Caldecott Medal winning Rosa in 2005.

Giovanni was teaching at Virginia Tech in 2007 when the tragic shooting occurred there.  She composed a memorial chant that was recited at the campus memorial service the next day.

She has written dozens of books, including two compilations, and non-fiction work.  Giovanni is among the most honored of contemporary poets having received the NAACP Image Award, the Langston Hughes Award for Distinguished Contributions to Arts and Letters, the Rosa Parks Women of Courage Award, and over twenty honorary degrees from colleges and universities around the country.

 

The mature writer.

Nikki-Rosa

Childhood rememberances are

always a drag if you’re Black

you always remember things like

living in Woodlawn with no inside toilet

and if you become famous or something

They never talk about how happy

you were to have your mother

all to yourself and how good the

water felt when you got your bath

from one of those

Big tubs that folk in chicago barbeque

in and somehow when you talk

about home

it never gets across how much you

understood their feelings as the

whole family attended meetings

About Hollydale and even though you

remember your biographers never

understand your father’s pain as he

sells his stock and another

dream goes

And though your’re poor it isn’t

poverty that concerns you and

though they fought a lot

it isn't your father's drinking that

makes any difference but only that

Everybody is together and you

and your sister have happy birthdays

and very good Christmasses and I

really hope no white person ever has

cause to write about me

because they never understand

Black love is Black wealth and they’ll

probably talk about my hard childhood

and never understand that

all the while I was quite happy.

—Nikki Giovanni

Seduction

one day

you gonna walk in this house

and I’m gonna have a long African

gown

you’ll sit down and say “The Black...”

and I’m gonna take one arm out

then you-not noticing me at all- will say “What about this brother...”

and I’m going to be slipping it over my head

and you’ll rap on about “The revolution...”

while i rest your hand against my stomach

you’ll go on-as you always do- saying

“I just can’t dig...”

while I’m moving your hand up and down

and I’ll be taking your dashiki off

then you'll say “What we really need...”

and taking your shorts off

then you’ll notice

your state of undress

and knowing you you’ll just say

“Nikki/

Isn’t this counterrevolutionary...”

—Nikki Giovanni

When I Die

when i die i hope no one who ever hurt me cries

and if they cry i hope their eyes fall out

and a million maggots that had made up their brains

crawl from the empty holes and devour the flesh

that covered the evil that passed itself off as a person

that i probably tried

to love

—Nikki Giovanni

Choices

If i can’t do

what i want to do

then my job is to not

do what i don’t want

to do

It’s not the same thing

but it's the best i can

do

If i can’t have

what i want . . . then

my job is to want

what I’ve got

and be satisfied

that at least there

is something more to want

Since i can’t go

where i need

to go . . . then i must . . . go

where the signs point

through always understanding

parallel movement

isn’t lateral

When i can't express

what i really feel

i practice feeling

what i can express

and none of it is equal

I know

but that’s why mankind

alone among the animals

learns to cry

—Nikki Giovanni