Birthday tribute to Nikki Giovanni
If you don’t know already, I loves me some poetry. I read it and occasionally write it. Throw in some feminism, activism, natural naps, jazzy tunes..and some fragrant candles and that’s a recipe for the closest I can get to woman on woman love. Yolanda Cornelia Giovanni (you know that’s black name, eh?) …aka Nikki Giovanni, today I thank God for blessing us with your words.
Here are some links so that you can educate yourself and celebrate the birth of a phenomenal woman, poet, spoken word artist, and activist. Ooh! I need to jump on Amazon and commence to updating my collection with some of her work.
Wikipedia bio (good starting point for those of you less familiar)- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikki_Giovanni
interview with Nikki Giovanni-
http://www.writerswrite.com/journal/jul00/giovanni.htm
Nikki Giovanni on cd-
http://nikki-giovanni.com/irecords.shtml
…and here’s just a taste of Nikki in her love poem called “Resignation“…
I love you
because the Earth turns round the sun
because the North wind blows north
sometimes
because the Pope is Catholic
and most Rabbis Jewish
because winters flow into spring
and the air clears after a storm
because only my love for you
despite the charms of gravity
keeps me from falling off the Earth
into another dimension
I love you
because it is the natural order of things
I love you
like the habit I picked up in college
of sleeping through lectures
or saying I’m sorry
when I get stopped for speeding
because I drink a glass of water
in the morning
and chain-smoke cigarettes
all through the day
because I take my coffee Black
and my milk with chocolate
because you keep my feet warm
through my life a mess
I love you
because I don’t want it
any other way
I am helpless
in my love for you
It makes me so happy
to hear you call my name
I am amazed you can resist
locking me in an echo chamber
where your voice reverberates
through the four walls
sending me into spasmatic ecstasy
I love you
because it’s been so good
for so long
that if I didn’t love you
I’d have to be born again
and that is not a theological statement
I am pitiful in my love for you
The Dells tell me Love
is so simple
the thought though of you
sends indescribably delicious multitudinous
thrills throughout and through-in my body
I love you
because no two snowflakes are alike
and it is possible if you stand tippy-toe
to walk between the raindrops
I love you
because I am afraid of the dark
and can’t sleep in the light
because I rub my eyes
when I wake up in the morning
and find you there
because you with all your magic powers were
determined that
I should love you
because there was nothing for you but that
I would love you
I love you
because you made me
want to love you
more than I love my privacy
my freedom my commitments
and responsibilities
I love you `cause I changed my life
to love you
because you saw me one friday
afternoon and decided that I would
love you
I love you I love you I love you
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
below is an interpretation of this poem taken from http://www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/minstrels/poems/1624.html
[Note: The reference to the Dells in line 47 is to "Love is so simple" a 1968 song from their album 'There is'. According to Giovanni, the rhythm of this poem is the rhythm of the song.] All right, if we have to give in to the Valentine spirit and get all teary-eyed and maudlin about love, we might as well do it properly. What I've always loved about Giovanni is her attitude - the deceptive simplicity of her lines, the tone not only conversational but intimate - so that reading her is like hearing yourself talk to a friend. This is a superb example of that. It's not that the lines here are polished to perfection, it's precisely that they wouldn't be if someone were really saying this out loud, and what they lack in finesse they more than make up in energy, in momentum, in sheer street-smartness. And then of course, just when you're beginning to run out enthusiasm, there's that one beautiful little line (because only my love for you / despite the charms of gravity / keep me from falling off the Earth) that keeps you going. The other thing I like about this poem is the way Giovanni both expresses the absoluteness of her love and (refusing to laud it for more than it is) laughs at herself for it. Love is not a magical communion of souls here; it is a bad habit that you can't get out of, a necessity, something you're too used to to even question, much less give up. It is a love that gives you both intense joy and honest suffering, it is deeply flawed and therefore deeply personal. And this is not, in Giovanni, a cynical point of view, it is a warm and real one. If there's such a thing as being helplessly in love, this is it! Aseem
