Those Who Ride the Night Winds

by Nikki Giovanni

Nikki Giovanni, long known as "the Princess of Black Poetry," dedicates Those Who Ride the Night Winds to "the day trippers and midnight cowboys," the ones who have devoted their lives to pushing the limits of the human condition and who have shattered the constraints of the status quo to live life as a "marvelous, transitory adventure." Included are poems about John Lennon, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert Kennedy, as well as friends, lovers, mothers, and the poet herself. With reverence for the ordinary and in search of the extraordinary, Those Who Ride the Night Winds is Nikki Giovanni's most accessible collection ever. She displays her passion for and connectedness to the people and places that touch her. The reissue of Nikki Giovanni's seminal 1984 collection will once again enchant those who have always loved her poems--and those who are just getting to know her work. As a witness to three generations, Nikki Giovanni has perceptively and poetically recorded her observations of both the outside world and the gentle yet enigmatic territory of the self. When her poems first emerged from the civil rights and Black Power movements in the late 1960s, she immediately became a celebrated and controversial figure. Written in one of the most commanding voices to grace America's political and poetic landscape at the end of the twentieth century, Nikki Giovanni's poems embody the fearless passion and spirited wit for which she is beloved and revered. Nikki Giovanni is our most widely read living black poet, and in her most accessible collection to date, we become aware of the poet as a human being we can relate to, someone affected by and concerned with events. The title of this collection refers to people who have tried to make changes, people who have gone against the tide, people who were unafraid to test their wings. Included are poems about John Lennon, Billie Jean King, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert Kennedy. There are poems about friends, lovers, mothers, and about the poet herself. Long known as the "Princess of Black Poetry," Nikki Giovanni is as alive and vibrant as ever. Her many readers will find once again in this collection the warmth, wit, passion, and caring about people that have always distinguished her work. Strong, direct, tremendously energetic, visionary, vulnerable, and real, these poems reveal a great spirit among us; a woman in her human dimension; a person all readers can identify with and believe in.

Genres: Poetry

64 pages, Paperback

First published May 5, 1983

About the author

Yolande Cornelia "Nikki" Giovanni Jr. was an American poet, writer, commentator, activist, and educator. One of the world's most well-known African-American poets, her work includes poetry anthologies, poetry recordings, and nonfiction essays, and covers topics ranging from race and social issues to children's literature. She won numerous awards, including the Langston Hughes Medal and the NAACP Image Award. She was nominated for a Grammy Award for her poetry album, The Nikki Giovanni Poetry Collection. Additionally, she was named as one of Oprah Winfrey's 25 "Living Legends". Giovanni was a member of The Wintergreen Women Writers Collective.
Giovanni gained initial fame in the late 1960s as one of the foremost authors of the Black Arts Movement. Influenced by the Civil Rights Movement and Black Power Movement of the period, her early work provides a strong, militant African-American perspective, leading one writer to dub her the "Poet of the Black Revolution". During the 1970s, she began writing children's literature, and co-founded a publishing company, NikTom Ltd, to provide an outlet for other African-American women writers. Over subsequent decades, her works discussed social issues, human relationships, and hip hop. Poems such as "Knoxville, Tennessee" and "Nikki-Rosa" have been frequently re-published in anthologies and other collections.
Giovanni received numerous awards and holds 27 honorary degrees from various colleges and universities. She was also given the key to over two dozen cities. Giovanni was honored with the NAACP Image Award seven times. One of her more unique honors was having a South America bat species, Micronycteris giovanniae, named after her in 2007.
Giovanni was proud of her Appalachian roots and worked to change the way the world views Appalachians and Affrilachians.
Giovanni taught at Queens College, Rutgers, and Ohio State, and was a University Distinguished Professor at Virginia Tech until September 1, 2022. After the Virginia Tech shooting in 2007, she delivered a chant-poem at a memorial for the shooting victims.

Reviews

[Jennifer (Insert Lit Pun) · Rating 2 out of 5]

I know tons of people love Nikki Giovanni, but these poems just weren’t for me. First, I tried to get on board with all the ellipses, but in the end they acted as more distracting, less effective line breaks. Second, I didn’t find most of these poems original linguistically or conceptually – Giovanni said pretty basic stuff in pretty uninspired language. I loved the idea of this collection (odes to famous people “who have gone against the tide, people who were unafraid to test their wings”), but the style lacked the spark and insight I was hoping for.

[Jenny (Reading Envy) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I went on a Nikki Giovanni poetry reading binge because she will be at the SC Book Festival in May 2014.

This volume is full of tribute poems... written in long paragraphs... with ellipses between the phrases... rather than clean fragments... on the page... And each one is quite long... and personal in how the poet views... people who have meant a lot to her.

But you might imagine that reading too many poems in a row in that style might hurt your head.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nikki Giovanni is a stunning writer who conveys emotions and themes in a way that pulls a reader into a space of reflection and misty beauty just beneath a grasp. In this volume there are poems to famous personages such as Billie Jean King, John Lennon, Robert Kenney, Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks. These poems impart not only a historical framework but the essence of each one.
The poems are group into two sections: one being Night Winds, and the other Day Trippers. The style and tone of the poems in the sections are different but each still fill a space within the reader about what the poem presents. Her styles are unique in that one is what many readers think of as poetry, and the other reads like thought strands laced with ellipses that progress through what feels like a story. A beautifully rendered collection for poetry lovers and those familiar with Nikki Giovanni's other works.

[Brett Mozzetti · Rating 4 out of 5]

I discovered I Wrote A Good Omelet by Nikki Giovanni and knew I needed to have the whole collection. Dedicated to the daytrippers and the midnight cowboys (!!!), this is a great add to your collection, even if you don't often purchase books.

I Wrote a Good Omelet

I wrote a good omelet...and ate a hot poem...
after loving you

Buttoned my car...and drove my coat home...in the rain...
after loving you

I goed on red...and stopped on green...floating somewhere
in between...
being here and being there
after loving you

I rolled my bed...turned down my hair...slightly confused
but...I don't care...
Laid out my teeth...and gargled my gown...then I stood
...and laid me down...
to sleep...
after loving you

[Michael P. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Does, “Eagles are a majestic species living in the thin, searing air, building nests on precipitous ledges. They are endangered but unafraid” read like poetry to you?

It isn’t, of course, but a prose paragraph that Ms. Giovanni tries to make look like poetry by putting ellipsis where the pauses so go:
“Eagles are a majestic species . . . living in the thin, searing air . . . building nests on precipitous ledges . . . they are endangered . . . but unafraid.”

There are a few legitimate poems in this “poetry” collection, but very few. There are few poetic images or fragmentary phrasings. Mostly, she just writes prose and pretends it is poetry by adding ellipsis. A few of the poems have a worthwhile idea that is interestingly expressed, but not enough to recommend this book.

[Keith · Rating 2 out of 5]

A wicked disappointment after the greatness of Cotton Candy on a Rainy Day . Nikki Giovanni’s sixth poetry collection floored me with its powerful verse and clever rhymes. This seventh collection, published only five years after, feels as if it was written by a different poet.


[Image: Cover of Those Who Ride Night Winds]

Those Who Ride Night Winds is mostly composed of prose paragraphs made to look like poetry by the obnoxious insertion of ellipses. I was reminded of reading texts from…a Boomer…discovering the…smartphone for the first…time. I also did not find the ideas explored in the poems to be particularly insightful. I'm shocked to see such mediocre work from Giovanni.


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[Image: Book Cover of The Collected Poetry of Nikki Giovanni, 1968-1998]

Citation:
Giovanni, N. (2008). Cotton candy on a rainy day. In V. C. Fowler, Ed., The Collected Poetry, 1968-1998 (eBook; pp. 354-411). Harper Collins e-books. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00... (Original work published 1983)

Title: Cotton Candy on a Rainy Day
Author(s): Nikki Giovanni (1943-2024)
Year: 1983
Genre: Poetry
Date(s) read: 3/8/25
Book 55 in 2025
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[Kimberly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first stumbled upon this collection of Giovanni's poetry my first year of college. My sister had this book just laying around and--although I'd just emerged from several years of dreadfully dull, unrelatable verse--on a quiet, rainy afternoon, something about the book captured my attention. As I read the first few lines of the preface, I knew I was experiencing something new. This book opened up my mind and heart to the beauty and power and the promise of poetry.

What impacted (and still impacts) me most about this collection is that her writing unfolds in such a way that it feels like I've been invited on a journey, as if we've been given access to a glimpse of Giovanni's most intimate thoughts. Some poems feel playful and loving; others are outpourings of grief and outrage at the prevalent, persistent, and grotesque racial injustice and oppression in America.

I've now had the privilege of attending one of Giovanni's talks, where she spoke with the same kind of openness and candor I first came to appreciate that one rainy afternoon when I read Nightwinds: Lorraine Hansberry and my mind split wide open.

PS I never returned my sister's copy and I have no regrets.

[Kudzai Mhangwa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm always so conflicted when I read the poetry of Miss Giovanni. On one hand you come across some lyrical and lovely pieces and on the other you find (what I consider) some bland writing. This collection was a little bit different from the previous poetry collections I've read, she made use of a lot of ellipsis in the poems (and boy do I mean she did use a lot of ellipsis)! The first few poems were alright with me but as I continued on with the anthology it started to get repetitive and uninteresting. I found some of the poems towards the end to be very effective and fun; I loved those the most. Perhaps it's just me who isn't a big fan of Ms Giovanni, but I will continue reading her work none the less!

[Patricia N. McLaughlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Classic Giovanni—incisive, passionate, witty, razor-sharp—and as relevant today as when these poems were first published in 1983.

[Terry Jess · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my new favorite collection of Giovanni’s. Her authenticity shines through and is paired with more frequent notes of hope amidst her realism and it’s all surrounded by deep love.

[Madeline Moss · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Turtles/the kind you find in pet stores/the kind Darwin met on Galapagos/grow to fit the environment/There are/probably/some genetic limits/but a small turtle/in a small bowl/will not outgrow/her home/Flowers/will rise/proportionate more to the size/of the pot/than the relationship of sun/to rain/Humans seldom deviate/If she hadn't been a small town girl/with a mind and heart molded absolutely/to fit the environment/she might have developed/a real skill/a real desire/to discover herself/and her gifts/As it was/as it is/she simply got used/and used to using..." Her Cruising Car, pg 35

[Drew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Is it poetry simply because you toss in ... between and within the sentences? I'd say, not necessarily. But even evaluated as short prose pieces (some dedicated to the likes of Lorraine Hansberry, Charles White and Phillis Wheatley), the often long individual entries in Giovanni's collection rarely come up short. I enjoyed lines repeatedly: "Some of us are lucky ... We learn to like ourselves." "Those of us lacking the grace to kill ourselves take it in the gut." I liked a complete poem deeply, not once.

[Liz Murray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nikki Giovanni's mastery of language is on full display here. It is poetry, with edges of prose, with all words carefully chosen to tell a story and to fill a bucket. There are many love poems here, as well as poems for people like Billie Jean King and Lorraine Hansberry. A highly readable and easily accessible collection of gorgeous words and lyrical love.

[laurannolivia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a beautiful collection of poems, especially towards the end. I read the last few poems on Valentine's day and they made my heart soar. I would recommend this book to anyone that is interested in poetry or someone that is interested in starting to reading poetry.

[Maggie · Rating 5 out of 5]

First book of poems to inspire me and cut threw the skin, straight to my heart.

[Tom Mueller · Rating 4 out of 5]

AKA Jim Morrison V.II