Poems, 1968-2020

by Nikki Giovanni

A major new career-spanning selection from one of the world’s foremost poets, an international treasure, from 1968 to the present day Nikki Giovanni's poetry has dazzled and inspired readers for more than sixty years. When she first emerged from the Black Arts Movement in the late 1960s, she immediately became one of the most celebrated and controversial poets of the era. Now considered a living legend, this is the first new selection since the late 1990s and offers readers a chance to be introduced to and to celebrate her incredible lifetime's work.Giovanni’s poetry has always been a powerful expression of her ideas about love, race, politics and gender, but part of that power has also been the sensitive and intimate way Giovanni is able to bring to light the heart and soul of herself and her readers. Giovanni's poetry speaks from and to the Black experience, with Black love, Black struggle and Black joy at the centre. Arranged chronologically and spanning the entirety of her career, this selection charts not only the development of a great poet but also of sixty years of American life, bringing together motherhood and revolution, political dreams and great loves, men, women, children and community, and shows Giovanni at her essential, profound best.

Genres: Poetry, Womens

543 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2020

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

[Raymond · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this book after Nikki Giovanni's passing in December 2024. I had never read a collection by her until now. This one Poems: 1968-2020 contains 301 poems (302 if you count the Acknowledgements) across 52 years. This was my first time reading so many poems by one person. I thoroughly enjoyed it. This collection contains excerpts from 15 of her poetry collections. It begins with her Black Power poems and as the years progress, she writes poems about love, social consciousness, historical figures, her family, and more. I particularly enjoyed reading her poems about poems.

[Johanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

“I know this Life is a good idea”

A life’s craft, warm and intimate, and on everything from revolution to blues to grief to Appalachia.

[Ben Dutton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Superb Collection

This is a stunning collection of the published works for Nikki Giovanni. It is a work to be read front to back, to be dipped into at random, to be read anyway you like as each page contains something brilliant, and some pages contain absolute jewels. I adored this.

[Jacquie J · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are many ways to review poetry. Reading it in your head and then out loud may help distinguish if how something sounds to ear differs to what it means to the mind; assessing the tone, style, key theme(s), techniques, and form of the poetry; observing how the poems sit on the page, etc. As a ‘non-professional’ reviewer my approach has been to enjoy the process in offering an account of what it felt like to read the poetry. Nikki Giovanni: Poems 1968 – 2020, provides a selection of poems which mainly address the Black American experience within such universal themes as love, joy, family, food, gender and racial politics, societal change and struggle.

I enjoyed the generally unfussy and uncomplicated poetry, which can look simple but is carefully crafted. Some, I found, so good that I had to read them again immediately! ‘I Do Have My Likes and Dislikes’. The accessibility of the poems made some fly like an arrow straight to the heart such as ‘You Were Gone’ or ‘The December of My Springs’ or ‘Introspection’ or ‘Tourism’. And there was so much humour too – such as ‘A Counting Game’ and ‘Why Don’t You Love Me’ was a classic!

It was gratifying to read poems about the simple joy of domestic life – whether the pleasure of coffee in the morning, a good red wine or wholesome food prepared with care and love for one's nourishment. The striking imagery and metaphors elevated what some may find mundane to things that can be very satisfying when given due attention and consideration. I enjoyed the mindfulness of her poetry... eg in ‘Visible Ink’ she states: The heroes of our time do the ordinary things that must be done...whether we applauded or not...’ Memorable phrasing.

Many poems are about the emotions (especially love and lovemaking [‘Seduction’] and relationships) eg in ‘Legacies’ the poignancy of the ending in the exchange between a grandmother and granddaughter: ‘and neither of them ever said what they meant and i guess nobody ever does’ was beautiful. Long form poems without punctuation worked very well, for me, eg ‘This Poem Hates’ or ‘Sound in Space’ or ‘And Yeah...This Is A Love Poem’ as I read them like mini stories. I found that the ‘...’ served as a guide to help me to slow down in reading long form poems aloud.

Not being familiar with many people, places or things name checked in some poems led me on a journey of discovery eg ‘The Only True Lovers Are Chefs or Happy Birthday Edna Lewis’; who is/was Lorraine Hansberry in ‘Lorraine Hansberry: An Emotional View’. It helped that I followed the advice of the critic Sarula Estruch by researching unfamiliar cultural, historical, or geographical references, to engage with what was discovered. While there were some poems (just a few) that did not work for me such as ‘I Wrote a Good Omelet’ I still enjoyed the creativity even if I did not enjoy the poem.

I am in two minds about who I would recommend this book to. It would be a good book for anyone dipping their toe in poetry as a novice given the range of types of poems, but the weighty nature/size of the book due to the broad amount of material might be off-putting. Overall, I would recommend it and suggest that the reader dip in and dip out over a lengthy period as overall the poetry is enlightening and entertaining. The rhythm the words create, and the cadence, can be very engaging.

Thanks to Penguin for the ARC

[Book busy · Rating 3 out of 5]

An incredibly synaesthetic and stream-of-consciousness style of poetry that gives a clear sense of forward thrust and principle. I love how tactile Giovanni makes a simple domestic love on either a romantic or familial sense appear. Was less of a fan of the huge essay-style poems with a really off-putting chunky graphology-> I like my poems slim and with lots of white space personally so I can really digest what's going on, but that's a matter of preference. It was nice to expose myself to a less structured style. Minus 2 stars for the slog that was the long section of essay style poems

My favourite poems were:
- Detroit Conference of Unity and Art
- Poem (No Name No.2)
- The Great Pax Whitie
- Adulthood ( for Claudia)
-Beautiful Black Men (with compliments and apologies to all not mentioned by name)
- Poem for Aretha
- Ego Tripping (there may be a reason why)
- Legacies
- Mothers
- Winter Poem
- Rituals
- A Certain Peace
- Just a New York Poem
- Categories
- When I Die
- My Tower
- Poem (for Nina)
- We
- My House
- The December of My Springs
- The Way I Feel
- A Very Simple Wish
- Cotton Candy on a Rainy Day
- Introspection
- The New Yorkers
- Gus
- The Beep Beep Poem
- That Day
- Hands: For Mother's Day
- I wrote a Good Omelet
- Three/ Quarters Time
- I Am She
- A Summer Love Poem
- I Do Have My Likes and Dislikes
- Just a Simple Declaration of Love
- All Eyez on U
- A Happy Reason
- Sound in Space
- A Real Pisser
- The Faith of a Mustard Seed
- Visible Ink
- A Civil Rights Journey
- Train Rides
- This POem
- Clouds
- Quilting the Black-Eyed Pea
- What We Miss: A Eulogy
- Symphony of the Sphinx
- Swinging on a Rainbow
- A Prayer for Nina
- The Seamstress of Montgomery ROSA PARKS
- Saturday Days
- Doors and Keys

There were more trust but my thumbs are tired.

[lauren hardy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Over 500 pages later, and I have just finished the poetry collection of Nikki Giovanni. I picked it up in Nairobi back in March, and it has been a perfect interlude between novels. So many standout poems that my copy is practically a map of dog-eared pages. Highly recommend giving it a read if you get the chance!

[D.F Weston · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of, it not the best collection of poetry I’ve read :)

[ASC Library]

811.5 Gio

[Mosab Omier · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rip Ms. Giovanni. You will alway be remembered.