Nikki Giovanni

Nikki Giovanni : a Woman of Strength and Courage Natalia Alhazov, PhD, USM March 12, 2009 Chisinau, ETRC

A most widely read American poet, author of over 30 books, Nikki Giovanni (Yolande Cornelia Giovanni, Jr.) was born on June 7, 1943 in Knoxville, Tennessee and raised in the Lincoln Heights neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio
Photo of 1973

“ Princess of Black Poetry” (1970) and "a Black American, a daughter, a mother, a professor of English"
celebrated and controversial author
civil rights and black power movements’ activist
distinguished professor and educator
stirring reciter of her poetry
public speaker and fiery orator

Distinctions, Honors, Awards
25 honorary degrees
1 of 10 "most admired black women"
Woman of the Year by 3 publications - Mademoiselle Magazine, The Ladies Home Journal, and Ebony Magazine
Nominated for the Ohio Women's Hall of Fame
Denominated an Outstanding Woman of Tennessee
Governor's Awards from Tennessee and Virginia
Langston Hughes Medal for poetry
Honorary member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority
Life Membership and Scroll from The National Council of Negro Women.
Member of PEN, she was honored for her life and career by The History Makers
Was handed in the keys to more than 25 cities
A scientist who admires her work even named a new species of bat he discovered for her!

With controversial subject matter, deeply personal revelations, and outspoken tone, her poetry is a throwback to the fundamentals: a time when LOVE was used as a universal writing subject.
creates revolutionary pieces inspired by African American activism and art
draws inspiration from black family culture
reflects racial issues
her womanhood - experience as a woman and a single mother
revolution and sexuality are strongly related – NG

Challenging problems of Afro-American poets:
selection of themes and forms to express their thoughts and feelings;
cultivation of a voice expressive of their racial consciousness;
reception of the desired audience ;
support of a publishing and critical infrastructure;
the nature of their relationship with other literary traditions;
self-identification and
purpose of their literary efforts.

Life and Creation
Studies at all-black Fisk University
Writers' Workshop and Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee
Activist of Black Arts movement (1967)
Radicalized by Malcolm X’s assassination and rise of militant Black Panthers
Black Feeling, Black Talk (1968), Black Judgment (1968), and Re: Creation (1970) - urgently revolutionary content
Experiences as a single mother influence her poetry
Spin a Soft Black Song (1971), Ego-Tripping (1973), and Vacation Time (1980) - poems for children
1970s - loneliness, thwarted hopes, theme of family affection
Cotton Candy on a Rainy Day (1978) - a poignant and introspective chronicle of drastic changes during 1970s, nationally and personally

Life and Creation (cont.)
1980s - return to political concerns in Those Who Ride the Night Winds (1983)
Those Who Ride the Night Winds (1983) about "the day trippers and midnight cowboys" pushing the limits of the human condition
Popular reader of her own poetry and respected speaker
Gemini (1971) - autobiographical reminiscences
The Women and the Men (1975) - compassion for the people, things, and places encountered
Sacred Cows . . . and Other Edibles (1988) - collection of essays
Successful operation for lung cancer (1995)
A Woman of Strength and Courage - title applied to cancer fighters one of which NG is. At 52, 13 years ago she was operated on for lung cancer of which her mother and sister had died.
the first Rosa Parks Woman of Courage Award Winner (2002),
Since 1998 - a professor at Virginia Tech, teaches English and writing

1. Woman
she wanted to be a blade
of grass amid the fields
but he wouldn't agree
to be the dandelion
she wanted to be a robin singing
through the leaves
but he refused to be
her tree
she spun herself into a web
and looking for a place to rest
turned to him
but he stood straight
declining to be her corner
she tried to be a book
but he wouldn't read
she turned herself into a bulb
but he wouldn't let her grow
she decided to become
a woman
and though he still refused
to be a man
she decided
it was all right

2. Nikki Rosa
childhood remembrances 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

3. For Saundra
i wanted to write a poem that rhymes but revolution doesn't lend itself to be-bopping
then my neighbor who thinks i hate asked – do you ever write tree poems – i like trees so i thought i'll write a beautiful green tree poem peeked from my window to check the image
noticed that the school yard was covered with asphalt no green – no trees grow in manhattan
then, well, i thought the sky i'll do a big blue sky poem but all the clouds have winged low since no-Dick was elected
so i thought again and it occurred to me maybe i shouldn't write at all but clean my gun and check my kerosene supply
perhaps these are not poetic times
at all

4. The True Import of Present Dialog, Black vs. Negro
Nigger Can you kill Can you kill Can a nigger kill Can a nigger kill a honkie Can a nigger kill the Man Can you kill nigger Huh? nigger can you kill Do you know how to draw blood Can you poison Can you stab-a-Jew Can you kill huh? nigger Can you kill Can you run a protestant down with your ‘68 El Dorado (that’s all they’re good for anyway) Can you kill Can you piss on a blond head Can you cut it off Can you kill A nigger can die We ain’t got to prove we can die We got to prove we can kill They sent us to kill
Japan and Africa We policed europe Can you kill Can you kill a white man Can you kill the nigger in you Can you make your nigger mind die Can you kill your nigger mind And free your black hands to strangle Can you kill Can a nigger kill Can you shoot straight and Fire for good measure Can you splatter their brains in the street Can you kill them Can you lure them to bed to kill them We kill in Viet Nam for them We kill for UN & NATO & SEATO & US And everywhere for all alphabet but BLACK Can we learn to kill WHITE for BLACK Learn to kill niggers Learn to be Black men

5. A Very Simple Wish
i want to write an image
like a log-cabin quilt pattern
and stretch it across all the lonely
people who just don't fit in
we might make a world
if i do that
i want to boil a stew
with all the leftover folk
whose bodies are full
of empty lives
we might feed a world
if i do that
twice in our lives
we need direction
when we are young and innocent
when we are old and cynical
but since the old refused
to discipline us
we now refuse
to discipline them
which is a contemptuous way
for us to respond
to each other
i'm always surprised
that it's easier to stick
a gun in someone's face
or a knife in someone's back
want to playthan to touch skin to skin
anyone whom we like
i should imagine if nature holds true
one day we will lose our hands
since we do no work nor make
any love
if nature is true
we shall all lose our eyes
since we cannot even now distinguish
the good from the evil
i should imagine we shall lose our souls
since we have so blatantly put them up
for sale and glutted the marketplace
thereby depressing the price
i wonder why we don't love
not some people way on
the other side of the world with strange
customs and habits
not some folk from whom we were sold
hundreds of years ago
but people who look like us
who think like us
who want to love us
why don't we love them
i want to make a quilt
of all the patches and find
one long strong pole
to lift it up
i've a mind to build
a whole new world

6. Revolutionary Dreams
i used to dream militant
dreams of taking
over america to show
these white folks how it should be done
i used to dream radical dreams
of blowing everyone away
with my perceptive powers
of correct analysis
i even used to think i'd be the one
to stop the riot and negotiate the peace
then i awoke and dug
that if i dreamed natural
dreams of being a natural
woman doing what a woman
does when she's natural
i would have a revolution

7. A Poem Of Friendship
We are not lovers
because of the love
we make
but the love
we have
We are not friends
because of the laughs
we spend
but the tears
we save
I don't want to be near you
for the thoughts we share
but the words we never have
to speak
I will never miss you
because of what we do
but what we are
together

8. I'm Not Lonely
I'm not lonely
sleeping all alone
you think i'm scared
but i'm a big girl
i don't cry
or anything
i have a great
big bed
to roll around
in and lots of space
and i don't dream
bad dreams
like i used
to have that you
were leaving me
anymore
now that you're gone
i don't dream
and no matter
what you think
i'm not lonely
sleeping
all alone

9. Transcript of Nikki Giovanni's Convocation address ( Delivered April 17, 2007)
We are Virginia Tech.
We are sad today, and we will be sad for quite a while. We are not moving on, we are embracing our mourning.
We are strong enough to stand tall tearlessly, we are brave enough to bend to cry, and we are sad enough to know that we must laugh again.
We do not understand this tragedy. We know we did nothing to deserve it, but neither does a child in Africa dying of AIDS, neither do the invisible children walking the night away to avoid being captured by the rogue army, neither does the baby elephant watching his community being devastated for ivory, neither does the Mexican child looking for fresh water, neither does the Appalachian infant killed in the middle of the night in his crib in the home his father built with his own hands being run over by a boulder because the land was destabilized. No one deserves a tragedy.
The Hokie Nation embraces our own and reaches out with open heart and hands to those who offer their hearts and minds. We are strong, and brave, and innocent, and unafraid. We are better than we think and not quite what we want to be. We are alive to the imaginations and the possibilities. We will continue to invent the future through our blood and tears and through all our sadness.
We are the Hokies. We will prevail. We will prevail. We will prevail.

The Virginia Tech massacre:
the deadliest shooting incident by a single gunman in United States history, on or off a school campus
a school shooting of 2 separate attacks 2 hours apart on April 16, 2007
took place on the campus of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) in Blacksburg , Virginia , United States
perpetrator Seung-Hui Cho , killed 32 people and wounded many others before committing suicide
Cho, a senior English major in Prof. Giovanni’s class at Virginia Tech, had been diagnosed with and was treated for a severe anxiety disorder

10. Yes We Can, Yes We Can, Yes We Can! Roll Call: A Song of Celebration
I'm Barack Obama
And I'm here to say:
I'm President
Of the USA
I'll walk the streets
And knock on doors
Share with the folks: Not my dreams but yours
I'll talk with the people I'll listen and learn I'll make the butter Then clean the churn
My wife is pretty My children are sweet
We need one puppy To be complete
But here I am quite ready To take that President vow
The time is now For us to stand Because we all know Yes We Can Yes We Can Yes We Can

“ Bicycles are trust and balance…and that’s what love is,” said Giovanni of her latest book that includes 65 poems to match Giovanni’s 65 years. Internationally known author Nikki Giovanni offers five tips on how to write a love poem.

Love Poem Tips
“ 5-If I could give just one piece of advice about writing a love poem I would remind the writer that love is about the lover not the beloved. It’s about how you feel not how he responds. That should free you to set your heart on your sleeve; no one is going to knock it off.
“ 4-Everything about love and life is the simplicity of it. The most important thing to keep in mind is to be clear. The Dells sang Love Is So Simple and I think they are right. Nat ‘King ‘ Cole sang I Love You (for Sentimental Reasons); clear as a bell. Cole Porter wrote You’d Be So Nice To Come Home To. Classic. All of them. Clear. You can feel the longing.

Love Poem Tips (cont.)
“ 3-The most common writing mistake, period, is complication. The reader does not want to figure out what you mean. Neither does your beloved. Prince says I Want To Be Your Lover. Boom. You know where you stand.
“ 2-There must be an internal rhythm to a love poem; the desire must come out. The mistake a lot of people make is to over-think the poem. To reach out for images when just letting the longing of the heart come through would be sufficient.
“ 1-If someone writes you a love poem you’d have to be an idiot to say it was not a good poem. That’s like someone saying ‘I love that dress on you’ and you saying ‘What? This ole thing?’ The proper answer is a sweet smile and a thank you. If you have feelings for that person you can always blush.”

Thank you!

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Nikki Giovanni

by Irina K on Apr 13, 2009

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Nikki Giovanni — Presentation Transcript