The Collected Poetry of Nikki Giovanni

by Nikki Giovanni

  “For Tommy”

  In the original edition, this poem was under the heading “Dedication.” Thomas Watson Giovanni, the poet’s only child, was born August 31, 1969.

  “Two Poems From Barbados”

  These two poems were written in June 1969 and July 1969, respectively.

  “For Harold Logan Murdered by “persons unknown” cause he wanted to own a Black club on Broadway”

  Harold Logan, together with the rhythm and blues singer Lloyd Price, acquired in the 1960s the old Birdland jazz club, just north of Fifty-second Street on Broadway. Although Logan and Price dubbed the club the Turntable (also the name of their recording company), it continued to be remembered affectionately as Birdland. It was, of course, closed on Sundays, and the intrepid Giovanni decided it would be a great place to have a book party to promote Black Judgement. She approached Logan, who let her use it with the proviso that she bring in at least a hundred people; if she failed to do so, she would have to pay him $500. Logan was rumored to be connected to the mob, which gave Giovanni added incentive to advertise her event and fill the house. Ironically, she did such effective publicity that people were lined up for over a block to get in. The offices of The New York Times overlooked this line, and a reporter got interested in where all those people were going on a Sunday afternoon. A photograph and story were featured in the Times on Monday, which boosted Giovanni’s sales even more.

  Logan was, in fact, brutally murdered inside the club, and Price distanced himself as much as possible; he moved to Africa and involved himself in nonmusical ventures through most of the 1970s. After he returned to the United States in the early 1980s, Price’s career took on new life, and he continues to perform at concerts and festivals.

  “No Reservations (for Art Jones)”

  Art Jones was a prisoner who wrote Giovanni a letter.

  “For Gwendolyn Brooks”

  This poem was written for To Gwen With Love: An Anthology Dedicated to Gwendolyn Brooks, which was published in 1971 by Johnson Publishing Company. In the anthology, the poem has the subtitle “a ‘note of love.’”

  “Poem for Aretha”

  L. 55: “billie holiday’s life”: Billie Holiday (1915–59), influential but tragic jazz singer whose life was marked by financial difficulties, attachments to abusive men, and addiction to drugs.

  L. 56: “dinah washington’s death”: Dinah Washington (1924–63), singer and pianist whose range included blues, gospel, rhythm and blues, and pop. She died of an accidental overdose of sleeping pills.

  L. 67: “johnny ace”: John Marshall Alexander, Jr., a.k.a. Johnny Ace (1929–54), popular rhythm and blues singer whose premature, bizarre death sustained his reputation long after he had died. Franklin covered several songs he had written, including “Never Let Me Go” and “My Song.”

  L. 67 “lil green”: Lil Green (1919–54), Chicago blues singer who achieved a successful touring and recording career. One of her big hits was “Romance in the Dark,” which Franklin recorded as “In the Dark.”

  Ll. 69–70: “‘i say a little prayer’…anymore”: Dionne Warwick (1940–), pop singer whose string of hits from her collaboration with Burt Bacharach and Hal David earned her multiple Grammys. “I Say a Little Prayer” was a Bacharach-David composition for Warwick that Franklin later recorded as well.

  L. 71: “money won’t change you”: This song was initially a James Brown hit.

  L. 72: “james can’t sing ‘respect’”: “Respect,” written by Otis Redding, was one of Franklin’s biggest hits, if not her signature song. Although she had a hit with her cover of James Brown’s “Money Can’t Change You,” Brown could not similarly record “Respect.”

  L. 73: “ray charles from marlboro country”: In the 1960s, Ray Charles moved away from R & B into country and western music, recording, for example, “Your Cheatin’ Heart” in 1962.

  L. 75: “nancy wilson”: Nancy Wilson (1937–) jazz and pop singer.

  L. 77: “dionne”: Dionne Warwick; see note to line 69.

  L. 81: “you make me/feel”: One of Franklin’s big hits was “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman,” first released on her 1968 album, Lady Soul. The song was written by Carole King and Jerry Wexler.

  L. 81: “the blazers”: Dyke & the Blazers, a little remembered R & B group led by Dyke Christian (1943–71); they had a huge hit with “Let a Woman Be a Woman—Let a Man Be a Man.”

  Ll. 83–85: “when my soul…claim it”: Another line from Franklin’s “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman.”

  L. 85: “joplin said ‘maybe’”: Janis Joplin (1943–70), blues and rock and roll star who died of an accidental drug overdose. She had a hit song entitled “Maybe.”

  Ll. 87–89: “when humphrey…james brown”: Franklin declined to help with Hubert Humphrey’s presidential campaign, but James Brown agreed to do so.

  L. 90: “otis”: Otis Redding (1941–67), one of the greatest soul singers and writers of all time, was killed in an airplane crash in Madison, Wisconsin. Although some people aboard survived the crash, Redding and four members of his backup group, the Bar-Kays, were killed; Giovanni has stated her belief that the crash was not an accident. Redding wrote “Respect,” which Franklin recorded in the spring of 1967 (he died on December 10 of that year).

  Ll. 91–92: “the impressions…‘moving/on up’”: The Impressions were a Chicago group led by Curtis Mayfield; the original group also included Jerry Butler, whose lead vocals helped make “For Your Precious Love” a huge hit and launched Butler’s solo career. The quoted line is from their hit song, “We’re a Winner.”

  L. 98: “temptations say…‘think about it’”: The Temptations, a five-member group, were the most successful of Motown’s male vocal groups.

  “Revolutionary Dreams”

  Ll. 12–15: “natural/dreams…natural”: This poem makes use of Aretha Franklin’s 1968 hit song, “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman.”

  “Walking Down Park”

  L. 1: “park”: Park Avenue in New York City.

  L. 2: “amsterdam”: Amsterdam Avenue in New York City.

  L. 3: “columbus”: Columbus Avenue in New York City.

  L. 18: “central park”: Central Park in New York City.

  L. 30: “time’s squares”: A play on Times Square, also in New York City.

  “Kidnap Poem”

  L. 6 “jones beach”: Jones Beach State Park in Wantagh, Long Island.

  L. 7: “coney island”: Coney Island is an amusement park and beach spot in Brooklyn, New York.

  L. 16: “red Black green”: Especially during the 1960s, Black Nationalists began sporting these colors as a symbol of Blackness and Black solidarity. The origin of the colors, however, dates back to Marcus Garvey’s United Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), which was founded in 1914 and promoted the unification of all African peoples throughout the Diaspora. The UNIA’s flag was red, black, and green.

  “The Genie in the Jar (For Nina Simone)”

  Nina Simone (1933–2003), “High Priestess of Soul,” musician, singer, and political diva. Giovanni dedicated two poems to Simone, with whom she enjoyed a brief friendship; the other is “Poem (For Nina),”.

  “The Lion In Daniel’s Den (for Paul Robeson, Sr.)”

  Paul Robeson (1898–1976) was an activist, athlete, singer, and actor. The son of a runaway slave and an abolitionist Quaker, Robeson won a four-year academic scholarship to Rutgers University, where he excelled in both athletics and academics: he won fifteen varsity letters in sports, was initiated into Phi Beta Kappa in his junior year, and graduated as valedictorian. Despite having been named twice to the All-American Football Team, he was not inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame until 1995, nearly two decades after his death. He attended Columbia Law School and practiced law briefly but then turned to theater and music. He played many lead roles on the stage for which he won international acclaim, and he starred in a number of films. His outspokenness about injustice and inequal
ity eventually led to charges of being a Communist brought against him by the House Un-American Activities Committee, which grievously harmed his career. In 1950 the United States revoked his passport, and he struggled for eight years to regain it so as to be able to travel abroad, essential to his work. At the time this poem was written (1970), both Robeson and his son, Paul Robeson, Jr., were alive; hence the designation “Sr.”

  The poem combines two biblical stories, the conversion of Paul on the road to Damascus and the testing of Daniel’s faith through his being cast into the den of lions.

  Ll. 1–2: “on the road…christians”: Before his conversion, Saul was opposed to Christianity and did what he could to help eradicate it. He was chasing Jewish Christians who had fled to Damascus when he experienced his conversion. See Acts 9.

  L. 8: “I Am Paul”: Paul was born into a Hellenistic Jewish family and given the Hebrew name Saul as well as the name Paul; he was a Roman citizen. Although his embrace of Christ’s teachings and divinity did not in his own mind conflict with his Jewish faith, he is traditionally identified as Saul before the conversion and Paul after.

  L. 13: “red black and green songs”: Especially during the 1960s, Black Nationalists began sporting these colors as a symbol of Blackness and Black solidarity. The origin of the colors, however, dates back to Marcus Garvey’s United Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), which was founded in 1914 and promoted the unification of all African peoples throughout the Diaspora. The UNIA’s flag was red, black, and green.

  “For A Lady of Pleasure Now Retired”

  L. 23: “louvenia smiled”: A reference to Giovanni’s maternal grandmother, Emma Louvenia Watson (1898–1967).

  “2nd Rapp”

  L. 2: “rap”: H. Rap Brown, now Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin (1943–). See note to “Detroit Conference of Unity and Art,”. Rap Brown went underground in 1970, the year this poem was published, because he had been charged with violating the terms of his bail and two of his friends had been killed in a suspicious explosion. He was arrested in 1971 after being wounded by police, stood trial in 1972, and began serving a prison sentence in 1973.

  “Poem For Unwed Mothers (to be sung to “The Old F.U. Spirit”)”

  Giovanni was herself, of course, “an unwed mother,” which subjected her to far more criticism than a “single mother” would receive today; she was, in fact, one of the first public figures who insisted on her right to control her life as she wished. She is certainly one of the women who changed the language we use to describe mothers who are unattached to their children’s fathers.

  “Ego Tripping (there may be a reason why)”

  L. 12: “nefertiti”: Nefertiti was one of the most celebrated of the ancient Egyptians, despite the fact that relatively little is known about her. She was the wife of King Akhenaten (1353–1336 BC) and with him raised six daughters. When one of the daughters died, the parents’ mourning was depicted in wall paintings. Nefertiti disappeared from the court after her daughter’s death. Her name means “the beautiful woman has come.”

  L. 24: “hannibal”: Hannibal (c. 247–c. 183 BC) was a Carthaginian general and the leader of the march across the Alps. He was a precocious child, reputed to have begun at the age of nine following his father on campaigns.

  “A Poem/Because It Came As A Surprise To Me”

  L. 2: “saul”: St. Paul. Paul was born into a Hellenistic Jewish family and given the Hebrew name Saul as well as the name Paul; he was a Roman citizen. Although his embrace of Christ’s teachings and divinity did not in his own mind conflict with his Jewish faith, he is traditionally identified as Saul before the conversion and as Paul after.

  “Oppression”

  L. 4: “mme. walker”: Madame C. J. Walker (1867–1919), the first African American millionaire, made her fortune through hair-straightening and beauty products.

  L. 7: “APA to GDI”: Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., a Black Greek fraternity originally founded at Cornell University, and “Goddamn Independent,” the slang term for students in historically Black colleges and universities who do not join a sorority or fraternity. Although Giovanni eventually became an honorary member of Delta Sigma Theta, Incorporated, she was a GDI as an undergraduate.

  L. 9: “howard university”: The first African American sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha, was founded at Howard University in 1908. There is fierce if good-natured competition between the AKAs and the Deltas, of which Giovanni is an honorary member.

  L. 13: “diana ross leaving the supremes”: Diana Ross (1944–) was the lead performer of the Supremes, Motown’s biggest female group. In 1967 the Supremes were renamed Diana Ross and the Supremes by Barry Gordy, head of Motown; in 1970 Ross left the group for a solo career.

  “Toy Poem”

  L. 4: “loving rawls”: Lou Rawls (1935–), blues and rhythm and blues singer popular in the 1960s and 1970s.

  L. 5: “st. jacques”: Raymond St. Jacques (1930–90) was a stage and film actor who supported himself with menial jobs between acting opportunities. His big break was in the off-Broadway production of Jean Genet’s The Blacks. His film credits include Black Like Me (1964), The Pawnbroker (1965), Cotton Comes to Harlem (1970), and Glory (1989), in which he played Frederick Douglass but received no screen credit.

  L. 22: “i wanna take you higher”: “I Want to Take You Higher” is the title of a song by Sly and the Family Stone.

  “Poem For Flora”

  Flora Alexander was a close friend of Giovanni’s parents.

  L. 6: “nebuchadnezzar”: Nebuchadnezzar is the common mis-spelling of Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon from 605 to 562 B.C.E. He is credited with rebuilding Babylon—including the hanging gardens—as a wonder of the ancient world.

  L. 9: “shadrach, meshach, and abednego”: In the Bible the three young friends of Daniel who were deported with him to Babylon by Nebuchadrezzar. They were cast into the fiery furnace, from which they emerged unscathed. See Daniel 3.

  L. 15: “Sheba”: The unnamed (in the Bible) Queen of Sheba, ruler of the Sabeans, who were located in southwest Arabia, roughly where Yemen is today. She visited Solomon, the king of Israel, and gave him many treasures. Tradition has it that she was African and that her relationship with Solomon resulted in a son who was the founder of the royal house of Ethiopia. See 1 Kings 10:1–13 and 2 Chronicles 9:1–12.

  “Poem For My Nephew (Brother C. B. Soul)”

  When he was young, Giovanni’s nephew, Christopher Black, would sign his drawings “Brother C. B. Soul.”

  “Yeah…But…”

  L. 3: “diana”: Diana Ross (1944–), who had left the Supremes for a solo career in 1970, the year this poem was written.

  L. 5: “dionne”: Dionne Warwick (1940–), pop singer whose string of hits from her collaboration with Burt Bacharach and Hal David earned her multiple Grammys.

  L. 5: “making way for”: Most probably a reference to the album Make Way for Dionne Warwick, released in 1963.

  L. 5: “just like me”: From a line in Warwick’s enormously successful “(They Long to Be) Close to You,” which was included on Make Way for Dionne Warwick and recorded again for the 1972 album Dionne.

  “Poem For A Lady Whose Voice I Like”

  This poem was originally written for the singer and actress Lena Horne (1917–).

  My House (1972)

  With the exception of two poems (“Just a New York Poem” and “We”), written in 1970, all the poems in My House were composed between January 1971 and June 1972. In an interview Giovanni said that when she came to write this book she knew she wanted to do something different; she would not write any more “revolutionary” poems.

  Between the publication of Re: Creation in 1970 and My House in 1972, Giovanni traveled abroad for the first time, both to Europe and, more significant, to Africa. While she was in Africa, Truth Is on Its Way was released (July 1971) and became quite unexpectedly a huge success. The award-winning album presented Giovanni reading her poetry to the background of gospel music perfor
med by the New York Community Choir. In July 1972, before My House was published, Giovanni read many of its poems to an audience of almost 1,100 people at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall. Her audience had grown considerably, then, by the time My House was published, a fact that is reflected in its initial sales, which surpassed those of the earlier volumes.

  The volume was divided into two parts: “The Rooms Inside,” consisting of twenty-three poems on personal themes and arranged to follow the speaker’s progress from childhood to adulthood; and “The Rooms Outside,” consisting of thirteen poems on larger, more public themes, with the exception of the final, title poem.

  “THE ROOMS INSIDE”

  “Mothers”

  L. 10: “burns avenue”: Giovanni and her family lived on Burns Avenue in Wyoming, a suburb north of Cincinnati, from about the time she was in kindergarten until about the end of her third grade year.

  L. 23: “samson myth”: Samson’s strength lay in his hair, which he told Delilah had never been cut. Delilah exploited his weakness with women both to cut his hair and to blind him. See Judges 13–16.

  “A Poem for Carol (May She Always Wear Red Ribbons)”

  L. 3: “lincoln heights”: Lincoln Heights was the all-black suburb of Cincinnati where Giovanni and her family moved in 1948.

  L. 4: “jackson street”: Giovanni’s parents first bought a house on Jackson Street in Lincoln Heights; later, they bought a home on Congress Street, just a few blocks from Jackson.

  “Conversation”

  This poem is clearly connected to the earlier “Alabama Poem”, published in Re: Creation.

  “Rituals”

  L. 14: “chandlers”: A chain store that sold inexpensive shoes.

  “Poem for Stacia”

  Stacia Murphy was an African American whom Giovanni met in Lagos, Nigeria. When Giovanni was unable to find a hotel room, Ms. Murphy let the poet stay with her.