Nikki Giovanni

Poet Nikki Giovanni has several poems that are in the same mode of self-embrace as the poems you read from Lucille Clifton and Maya Angelou. The most well-known is "Ego Tripping (there may be a reason why)," which was featured in a book of poem for young people in 1972. Giovanni was inspired by a trip to Egypt and uses historical and Biblical allusions to explore the origins of the beautiful and strong black woman.

This poem has become so well-known that the title "ego trippin" became part of everyday language (and the name of an album by Snoop Dogg!). Urban Dictionary defines it as "thinking you're all that." In my opinion, that definition's negative connotation is missing the point. This is a positive statement about female fabulousness.

Ego Tripping (there may be a reason why) by Nikki Giovanni
I was born in the congo
I walked to the fertile crescent and built
   the sphinx
I designed a pyramid so tough that a star
   that only glows every one hundred years falls
   into the center giving divine perfect light
I am bad

I sat on the throne
   drinking nectar with allah
I got hot and sent an ice age to europe
   to cool my thirst
My oldest daughter is nefertiti
   the tears from my birth pains
   created the nile
I am a beautiful woman

I gazed on the forest and burned
   out the sahara desert
   with a packet of goat's meat
   and a change of clothes
I crossed it in two hours
I am a gazelle so swift
   so swift you can't catch me

   For a birthday present when he was three
I gave my son hannibal an elephant
   He gave me rome for mother's day
My strength flows ever on

My son noah built new/ark and
I stood proudly at the helm
   as we sailed on a soft summer day
I turned myself into myself and was
   jesus
   men intone my loving name
   All praises All praises
I am the one who would save

I sowed diamonds in my back yard
My bowels deliver uranium
   the filings from my fingernails are
   semi-precious jewels
   On a trip north
I caught a cold and blew
My nose giving oil to the arab world
I am so hip even my errors are correct
I sailed west to reach east and had to round off
   the earth as I went
   The hair from my head thinned and gold was laid
   across three continents

I am so perfect so divine so ethereal so surreal
I cannot be comprehended except by my permission

I mean...I...can fly
   like a bird in the sky...

Don't you love it?! I also love a poem from her collection, Blues: For All the Changes, entitled "A Blackbird on My Knee." She uses wonderful metaphors to show a sense of loss and desire for her loved one to return to her. I love her sense of humor and unsentimental sense of emptiness.



A Blackbird on My Knee, by Nikki Giovanni (1999)

I'm windex without a window                Drano without the sludge
I'm wax without hardwood                     Mean without a grudge
I'm a poem without rhyme                      A clock without time
A rabbit on crutches                               A meat-eating deer
             Without you around one thing is clear

I'm a horse with no kick                        A bee with no sting
My hair won't plait                                My bell can't ring
I'm a quilt without filling                      I take without stealing
I'm savings without interest                  Stocks without bonds
             My goldfish have moved to my neighbor's ponds

                                                    I sing to no music
                                                    I rap to no beat
                          My heart is too heavy           I need a retreat

                         I'm lonely and weary              I can't get rest
                               I'm unsatisfied since I've had the best
                       You need to come home and take care of me
                   I said you need to come home and take care of me
           I'm just sitting in this vacant lot with a blackbird on my knee



Two more links to good poems by Giovanni:

"Walking Down Park"
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/177834

"A Poem on the Assasination of Robert F. Kennedy"
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/177840