Reading Pathways: The Best Nikki Giovanni Poems
I was 15 when a friend and I found Love Poems by Nikki Giovanni in our school library. We took turns reading them out loud. Nikki Giovanni’s poems were completely different from anything I’d studied in school. In fact, they changed my entire understanding of what poetry could be. Nikki Giovanni self-published her first volumes of poetry, Black Feelings, Black Talk and Black Judgement, in 1968. Nikki Giovanni poems grew out of her feelings about the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr., Medgar Evers, and Malcom X, as well as the loss of her own grandmother. Since then she’s produced almost 20 books of poetry, along with multiple nonfiction works and children’s books.
Here are nine* of my favorite Nikki Giovanni poems that feel like a good place to start among her long, important body of work. I hope when you read them, you feel like I did at 15 discovering her for the first time.
Where to Start With Nikki Giovanni Poems: Her Ten Best*
1. Poem for a Lady Whose Voice I Like
Excerpt:
so he said: you ain’t got no talent
you wouldn’t be nobody
and she said: god created heaven and earth
and all that’s Black within them
2. You Came, Too
Excerpt:
I came to the crowd seeking friends
I came to the crowd seeking love
I came to the crowd for understanding
I found you
3. A Good Cry
4. Dreams
Excerpt:
in my younger years
before i learned
black people aren’t
suppose to dream
i wanted to be
a raelet
5. A Poem of Friendship
Excerpt:
We are not lovers
because of the love
we make
but the love
we have
6. I Wrote A Good Omelette
Excerpt:
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
7. Ego Tripping
8. Nikki-Rosa
Excerpt:
childhood remembrances are always a drag
if you’re Black
you always remember things like living in Woodlawn
with no inside toilet
and if you become famous or something
they never talk about how happy you were to have
your mother
all to yourself and
how good the water felt when you got your bath
9. Knoxville, Tennessee
Excerpt:
I always like summer
best
you can eat fresh corn
from daddy’s garden
and okra
and greens
and cabbage
and lots of
barbecue
Next Read: More Beautiful Nikki Giovanni Poems
For a next step in your Nikki Giovanni exploration, I suggest you start with Bicycles: Love Poems, A Good Cry: What We Learn From Tears and Laughter, or, for a more comprehensive look at her writing, The Collected Poetry of Nikki Giovanni. And for younger readers interested in poetry, I highly recommend Hip Hop Speaks to Children: A Celebration of Poetry With a Beat.
*The term best is highly subjective. These are ten poems I find beautiful and representative of Giovanni’s work. But I don’t have the hubris to assume I can actually be the judge of what her best writings are.
*Editor’s Note: This post originally credited the poem “Mercy” to Nikki Giovanni in error; “Mercy, after Nikki Giovanni” was written by Rudy Francisco and can be found in Helium.
