Nikki Giovanni

thumb|Giovanni in 2008 Nikki Giovanni (June 7, 1943 – December 9, 2024) was an American poet, writer, commentator, activist, and educator. Quotes Poetry is the culture of a people. We are poets even when we don’t write poems; just look at our life, our rhythms, our tenderness, our signifying, our sermons and our songs. Gemini: An Extended Autobiographical Statement on My First Twenty-five Years of Being a Black Poet 1976 Penguin Books 978-0-14-004264-1 95 Poets shouldn't commit suicide. That would leave the world to those without imaginations or hearts. That would bequeath to the world a mangled syntax and no love of champagne. Poets must live in misery and ecstasy, to sing a song with the katydids. Poets should be ashamed to die before they kiss the sun. On her poem “Poets” in “Poet Nikki Giovanni On The Darker Side Of Her Life” in NPR (2013 Oct 29) You have to read the poem and say, “My god, that’s a good poem,” and kind of smile at yourself. If you’re not willing to do that, then you’re wasting your time, and you’re hurting yourself in another way because you’re trying to please somebody who doesn’t like you. You don’t want to get in that position. On poets having to trust themselves in “Nikki Giovanni on trusting your own voice”] in The Creative Independent (2017 Apr 24) The Women and The Men (1970) I. The Women it is not unusualthat the old bury the young     though it is an abomination...those who make warcall themselves diplomats...the unfaithful pray loudest...we judge a man by his dreamsnot alone his deeds...by his intentnot alone his shortcomings...it is not unusualto know him through those who love him The Women Gather (for Joe Strickland) ...i sit waitingfor a fresh thoughtto stir the atmosphere The December of My Springs i hope my shoulder finds a head that needs nestling...i hope i diewarmedby the life that i triedto live The Life I Led II. The Men they say you should fight the cold with the coldbut since i never do anything righti called you Hampton, Virginia ...how elseto spenda rainy dayother than with youseeking sun and starsand heavenly bodies Rain ...i believethe most beautiful poem...is your heartracing Poetry is a Tressel how do you write a poemabout someone so close...don't you already knowwhat i feel and ifyou don't maybei should check my feelings How Do You Write A Poem? II. And Some Places     may i spin a poem around youcome let's step into my weband dream of freedom together Africa if nature is truewe shall all lose our eyessince we cannot even now distinguishthe good from the evil...i've a mind to builda new worldwant to play A Very Simple Wish ...do you ever stopto think what it looked likebefore it was an avenue...ever look south...and see gazelles running playfullyafter the lions...did you ever, sit downand wonder about what freedom's freedomwould bring...the Iroquois, Alonquinand Mohicans... could caressthe earthever think what Harlem would belike if our herbs and roots and elephant earsgrew...the parrot parroting black is beautiful...ever think it's possiblefor us to behappy Walking Down Park if trees could talkwonder what they'd saymet an old man...told me "girl! my hands seenmore than allthem books...at tuskeegee"...met an old woman..."sista" she called to me"...my feetseen more than yo eyesever gonna read"...if trees would talkwonder what they'd tell me Alabama Poem if it does not sing discard the earfor poetry is songif it does not delight discardthe heart for poetry is joyif it does not inform then closeoff the brain for it is deadif it cannot heed the insistent messagethat life is preciouswhich is all we poetswrapped in our lonelinessare trying to say Poetry Paint Me Like I Am (Dec 2003) : Teen Poems from WriterCorps. Introduction. We need food for the Soul           We need poetry ... We deserve poetry     Paint me Hopeful         Paint Me Futuristic         Paint Me Nikki               I'm a Poet “Nikki Giovanni: Interview" (2008) Mosaic Magazine (Aug 1, 2008) Source. History is wonderful. We have so much we can learn if we would quit making ideology out of history, and just deal with what happened… NOTE: On writing without historical references. Politics is personal. That, however, doesn’t mean it’s ideological. It means that one cares about what she or he is doing, what he or she is writing… NOTE: On the politics seeping into the personal. As a writer, one has to be willing to be wrong, willing to make mistakes. I’ve put everything on the table and accepted the fact that I may come up short. And, if (or when) I do, that’s okay. NOTE: On accepting fault as a writer. ego-tripping (2013) : and other poems for black people There is a game I must tell you ofIt's called Catch the Leader Lying(and knowing your sense of the absurdyou will enjoy this)...You must invent your own games and teach us oldones how to play poem for black boys (with special love to james) (2 Apr 67) Black love is Black wealth and they'llprobably talk about my hard childhoodand never understand thatall the while I was quite happy nikki-rosa (12 Apr 68) let's buildwhat we becomewhen we dream word poem (perhaps worth considering) (12 Apr 68) then I awoke and dugthat if i dreamed naturaldreams of being a naturalwoman doing what a womandoes...i would have a revolution revolutionary dreams (20 jan. 70) ...as i grew and maturedi became more sensibleand decided i wouldsettle downand just becomea sweet inspiration dreams (2 oct. 68) if science has the most perfect languagejust think of me as Mc2...one dayi'm gonna grab your loveand you'll be satisfied communication (29 march 73) The Authority of a Writer (2024) : An Interview with Nikki Giovanni. Interview by Jan McDaniel. A Source. If I were advising someone on a writing career, the deal is this: write. If you get it published, good. If somebody pays you, better, because you have to eat, but the deal is you have to write. The authority of the writer always overcomes the skepticism of the reader. I'm a big fan of the black woman and so I'm always looking at aspects of the black woman--what she's doing and how she does it. Quotes about Nikki Giovanni At the library I would go the shelves alphabetically. I was drawn to anyone with a female name, with a Latino or Spanish name. There were very, very few. But as a teenager I discovered African American poetry. Gwendolyn Brooks was the first. Then Phillis Wheatley. I really identified with this slave woman writing poetry to assert and affirm her humanity. Suddenly my eyes were open to history. There was a whole explosion of African-American women poets-Audre Lorde, Nikki Giovanni, June Jordan. I have a poem in my head that's going to take me years to write down. Its working title is "On Thanking Black Muses." I owe them, because poetry really changed my life, saved it. Lorna Dee Cervantes Interview in Fooling with Words: A Celebration of Poets and Their Craft by Bill Moyers (1999) (At National Black Theater performance) I was in awe of the words I witnessed that day. It was the first time that I heard the works of writers like Gwendolyn Brooks, Nikki Giovanni, Langston Hughes, Amiri Baraka. I heard poetry that was about me, that was very immediate. I connected to it in a visceral way. That experience moved me so profoundly that I went home and that night I wrote my first batch of poems. It was like the floodgates opened. That reading empowered me with a voice and gave me permission to express everything that had been festering in me for years. So I just started experimenting with language and writing all kinds of things. Sandra María Esteves interview (2001) in A Poet's Truth by Bruce Allen Dick External links https://nikki-giovanni.com/ Category:1943 births Category:2024 deaths Category:African Americans Category:Poets from the United States Category:Authors from the United States Category:Educators from the United States Category:People from Knoxville