Read Online The Collected Poetry of Nikki Giovanni by Nikki Giovanni - Free Book Online

really
    if I had at my
    disposal
    a means to get
    out of this world
    I’d go
    and let those un
    grateful
    coloreds
    try to get
    along
    without
    me

Dreams
    in my younger years
    before i learned
    black people aren’t
    suppose to dream
    i wanted to be
    a raelet
    and say “dr o wn d in my youn tears”
    or “tal kin bout tal kin bout”
    or marjorie hendricks and grind
    all up against the mic
    and scream
    â€œbaaaaaby nightandday
    baaaaaby nightandday”
    then as i grew and matured
    i became more sensible
    and decided i would
    settle down
    and just become
    a sweet inspiration

Revolutionary Music
    you’ve just got to dig sly
    and the family stone
    damn the words
    you gonna be dancing to the music
    james brown can go to
    viet nam
    or sing about whatever he
    has to
    since he already told
    the honkie
    â€œalthough you happy you better try
    to get along
    money won’t change you
    but time is taking you on”
    not to mention
    doing a whole
    song they can’t even snap
    their fingers to
    â€œgood god! ugh!”
    talking bout
    â€œi got the feeling baby i got the feeling”
    and “hey everybody let me tell you the news”
    martha and the vandellas dancing in the streets
    while shorty long is functioning at that junction
    yeah we hip to that
    aretha said they better
    think
    but she already said
    â€œain’t no way to love you”
    (and you know she wasn’t talking to us)
    and dig the o’jays asking “must i always be a stand in
    for love”
    i mean they say “i’m a fool for being myself”
    While the might mighty impressions have told the
    world
    for once and for all
    â€œWe’re a Winner”
    even our names—le roi has said—are together
    impressions
    temptations
    supremes
    delfonics
    miracles
    intruders (i mean intruders?)
    not beatles and animals and white bad things like
    young rascals and shit
    we be digging all
    our revolutionary music consciously or un
    cause sam cooke said “a change is gonna come”

Beautiful Black Men
    (With compliments and apologies to all not mentioned by name)
    i wanta say just gotta say something
    bout those beautiful beautiful beautiful outasight
    black men
    with they afros
    walking down the street
    is the same ol danger
    but a brand new pleasure
    sitting on stoops, in bars, going to offices
    running numbers, watching for their whores
    preaching in churches, driving their hogs
    walking their dogs, winking at me
    in their fire red, lime green, burnt orange
    royal blue tight tight pants that hug
    what i like to hug
    jerry butler, wilson pickett, the impressions
    temptations, mighty mighty sly
    don’t have to do anything but walk
    on stage
    and i scream and stamp and shout
    see new breed men in breed alls
    dashiki suits with shirts that match
    the lining that complements the ties
    that smile at the sandals
    where dirty toes peek at me
    and i scream and stamp and shout
    for more beautiful beautiful beautiful
    black men with outasight afros

Woman Poem
    you see, my whole life
    is tied up
    to unhappiness
    it’s father cooking breakfast
    and me getting fat as a hog
    or having no food
    at all and father proving
    his incompetence
    again
    i wish i knew how it would feel
    to be free
    it’s having a job
    they won’t let you work
    or no work at all
    castrating me
    (yes it happens to women too)
    it’s a sex object if you’re pretty
    and no love
    or love and no sex if you’re fat
    get back fat black woman be a mother
    grandmother strong thing but not woman
    gameswoman romantic woman love needer
    man seeker dick eater sweat getter
    fuck needing love seeking woman
    it’s a hole in your shoe
    and buying lil’ sis a dress
    and her saying you shouldn’t
    when you know
    all too well—that you shouldn’t
    but smiles are only something we give
    to properly dressed social workers
    not each other
    only smiles of i know
    your game sister
    which isn’t really
    a