Nikki Giovanni

I enjoyed the very powerful poetry of Nikki Giovanni. I found her work to be full of imagery. The words are very simple, but put together in such a way as to stir emotion and thought. I liked “Nikki-Rosa” the most, and it may sound funny because I am not African-American and obviously cannot relate to her in that way, but I do understand aspects of this poem on a certain level. Growing up in the rural Deep South (like I did) has a lot of negative connotations attached to it. Most people assume just as many things about that type of existence as they might assume about the early childhood of Ms. Giovanni. The lines “everybody is together and you and your sister have happy birthdays and very good Christmases” and “they’ll probably talk about my hard childhood and never understand that all the while I was quite happy” are the most meaningful to me, as they can also be applied to the lives of my family and my friends. We weren’t poverty stricken, but compared to the rest of the world, we weren’t exactly well-off either— it wasn’t a problem. We, and others like us, were fine. Families got together and took care of one another, good times and bad times. By the same token, Nikki Giovanni doesn’t use her childhood to define herself, nor will she let others pigeon-hole her as being deprived of anything just because she is black.

“Poem for Black Boys” was another powerful piece, written apparently in a time of unrest. Although it seems to be telling young black men to accept less than strive for, to forget about being the hero, and run away to the corner and hide, it is actually challenging them. By using humor and sarcasm Ms. Giovanni injects many popular references of the time, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. She makes a clever play on the Monopoly game, “DO NOT SIT IN, DO NOT FOLLOW KING, GO DIRECTLY TO STREETS”, calling it “CULLURD” (colored) and saying that it is one game they can win. She advises them to go “natural”, take up vandalism and buy the “Burn Baby Burn” revolution kit, with instructions on how to make Molotov cocktails. Her admonition to the young men is not only a reminder of how easily the world can view them as troublemakers, but also how easy it would be for them to be that way if they make the wrong choices. The last stanza tells them to be their own heroes, and that it is time for them to find their own way.