We love…poetry by Nikki Giovanni!

Educator, civil rights activist, author, poet, Nikki Giovanni is one of the most revered and influential people of our generation.  She has engaged our souls over the years with her profound and powerful applications of ideas about life through verse and voice. Nikki’s impassioned words have courted controversy, yet have also taken our minds into unmapped territories of the imagination. 50BOLD celebrates the now 74-year-old poetess with a poetry excerpt from her latest work, A Good Cry, What We Learn From Tears and Laughter, a collection that tells about coping with life, growth, and pain through poems, short stories, and essays.

BLACK LIVES MATTER

(Not a Hashtag)

 

I’m not ashamed

of our history

because I know

there is more

to come

 

I’m not ashamed

of slavery

neither bought

nor sold

because I know

there is another

answer

 

I’m not ashamed

of dark or light

skin

straight or curly

or nappy—let’s call it that—

hair

 

I’m not ashamed

of thick or thin

lips

nor that time

we waste signing

and dancing

 

we taught the white

folks

to sing and dance

too

  

I’m proud of Simon

The Cyrene

Nobody made him

help Jesus

He did his part

 

I’m proud of the woman

who moaned on the ship

at the 10th Day

for admitting if not defeat

then certainly change

 

I’m proud of the Rappers

who Rap

and most especially

I’m proud

that

Black Lives Matter


We Do

 

We honestly

Do  

─ Nikki Giovanni

A GOOD CRY, What We Learn From Tears and Laughter is Nikki Giovanni’s 27th volume of poetry.  The book is currently on sale from William Morrow.