It's a Poetry Attack of Nikki Giovanni

1. "Cotton Candy On A Rainy Day"

Don't look now I'm fading away

Into the gray of my mornings

Or the blues of every night
Is it that my nails keep breaking

Or maybe the corn on my secind little piggy Things keep popping out on my face or of my life
It seems no matter how I try I become more difficult to hold

I am not an easy woman to want
They have asked the psychiatrists . . . psychologists . . . politicians and social workers What this decade will be known for
There is no doubt . . . it is loneliness
-Nikki Giovanni, New York 1978



This image conveys loneliness, reflecting Giovanni's thoughts when she writes, "What this decade will be known for, there is no doubt... it is loneliness". Giovanni wrote this poem in the 1970s, and in it she expresses the political issues during that decade. The major theme of the poem is aging and change, and the image of a young girl looking at her reflection conveys a foreshadow of what is yet to happen, that she will age and undergo change.



2. "The Great Pax Whitie"
by Nikki Giovanni, 1960s
"In the beginning was the word
And the word was
Death
And the word was nigger
And the word was death to all niggers
And the word was death to all life
And the word was death to all
peace be still
The genesis was life
The genesis was death
In the genesis of death
Was the genesis of war
be still peace be still
In the name of peace
They waged the wars
ain’t they got no shame
In the name of peace
Lot’s wife is now a product of the Morton company
nah, they ain’t got no shame
Noah packing his wife and kiddies up for a holiday
row row row your boat
But why’d you leave the unicorns, noah
Huh? why’d you leave them
While our Black Madonna stood there
Eighteen feet high holding Him in her arms
Listening to the rumblings of peace
be still be still
CAN I GET A WITNESS? WITNESS? WITNESS?
He wanted to know
And peter only asked who is that dude?
Who is that Black dude?
Looks like a troublemaker to me
And the foundations of the mighty mighty
Ro Man Cat holic church were laid
hallelujah Jesus
nah, they ain’t got no shame
Cause they killed the Carthaginians
in the great appian way
And they killed the Moors
“to civilize a nation”
And they just killed the earth
And blew out the sun
In the name of a god
Whose genesis was white
And war wooed god
And america was born
Where war became peace
And genocide patriotism
And honor is a happy slave
cause all god’s chillun need rhythm
And glory hallelujah why can’t peace
be still
The great emancipator was a bigot
ain’t they got no shame
And making the world safe for democracy
Were twenty millon slaves
nah, they ain’t got no shame
And they barbecued six million
To raise the price of beef
And crossed the 38th parallel
To control the price of rice
ain’t we never gonna see the light
And champagne was shipped out of the East
While kosher pork was introduced
To Africa
Only the torch can show the way
In the beginning was the deed
And the deed was death
And the honkies are getting confused
peace be still
So the great white prince
Was shot like a nigger in texas
And our Black shining prince was murdered
like that thug in his cathedral
While our nigger in memphis
was shot like their prince in dallas
And my lord
ain’t we never gonna see the light
The rumblings of this peace must be stilled
be stilled be still
ahh Black people
ain’t we got no pride?"

In case one can not figure out, this poem involves social protest during the civil rights movement. Giovanni mocks those who found blacks unintelligent by using improper grammar such as "ain't got no shame". She also breaks down Roman Catholic as "Ro Man Cat Holic" conveys African Americans being ridiculed for being less educated than Caucasians, because they need to enunciate their words. Giovanni using a biblical reference of an African American being a troublemaker, reflects that African Americans have been discriminated since biblical times; it also conveys that African Americans have been discriminated for years and that the reason for the discrimination are outdated and invalid. Though Giovanni illustrates violence, she never offers a solution, a pattern often found in her other published works.

3."Balance" by Nikki Giovanni

"in life one is always balancing like we juggle our mothers against our fathers or one teacher against another(only to balance our grade average) 3 grains of salt to one ounce truth our sweet black essence or the funky honkies down the streetand lately I've begun wondering if you re trying to tell me something we used to talk all night and do things alone together and i've begun(as a reaction to a feeling) to balance the pleasure of loneliness against the pain of loving you."

This poem has is personally significant to me, because my life is made up of balances. Currently, I am undergoing maintaining the balance of the present and the future. With college applications being due, it is very easy for me to get caught up in my future and the road ahead. However, I get pulled away from this state of mind when I realize I have to maintain my current grades on top of my applying to colleges. It is difficult to balance the two, because I'm caught in high-school mode, but I have to be aware that next year I will be out on my own.