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When Nikki Giovanni's poems first emerged during the Civil Rights and Black Arts Movements of the 1960s, she immediately took a place among the most celebrated and influential poets of the era. Now, Giovanni continues to stand as one of the most commanding, luminous voices to grace America's political and poetic landscape.
In a career spanning over thirty years, Giovanni has created a body of work that's become vital and essential to our American consciousness. This collection of new poems is a masterpiece that explores the ecstatic union between self and community. Quilting the Black-Eyed Pea is an extraordinarily intimate collection. Each poem bears our revered cultural icon's trademark of the unfalteringly political and the intensely personal: The elegant "What We Miss" exalts the might and grace of women, while "Swinging on a Rainbow" rejoices about the spaces in which we read; Giovanni commemorates Africa and her family legacy in the majestic "Symphony of the Sphinx" and contemplates our America in the heartbreaking "Desperate Acts" and "9:11:01 He Blew It." And in the dreamy "Making James Baldwin" and dazzling "Quilting the Black-Eyed Pea," Giovanni gives us reason to comfort, to share, to love, to change and to be human.
Quilting the Black-Eyed Pea is Nikki Giovanni's meditation on humanity and soul. It's her revelatory gaze at the world in which we live -- and her confession on the world she dreams we will one day call home. Nikki Giovanni is a national treasure as she once again confirms her place as one of America's most powerful truth tellers and beloved daughters.
Poet, activist, mother, and professor, Nikki Giovanni is a three-time NAACP Image Award winner and the first recipient of the Rosa Parks Woman of Courage Award, and holds the Langston Hughes Medal for Outstanding Poetry, among other honors. The author of twenty-seven books and a Grammy nominee for The Nikki Giovanni Poetry Collection, she is the University Distinguished Professor/English at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia, and an Oprah Living Legend.
Backing out the driveway
the car lights cast an eerie glow
in the morning fog centering
on movement in the rain slick street
Hitting brakes I anticipate a squirrel or a cat or sometimes
a little raccoon
I once braked for a blind little mole who try though he did
could not escape the cat toying with his life
Mother-to-be possum occasionally lopes home ... being
naturally ... slow her condition makes her even more ginger
We need a sign POSSUM CROSSING to warn coffee-gurgling
neighbors:
we share the streets with more than trucks and vans and
railroad crossings
All birds being the living kin of dinosaurs
think themselves invincible and pay no heed
to the rolling wheels while they dine
on an unlucky rabbit
I hit brakes for the flutter of the lights hoping it's not a deer
or a skunk or a groundhog
coffee splashes over the cup which I quickly put away from me
and into the empty passenger seat
I look ...
relieved and exasperated ...
to discover I have just missed a big wet leaf
struggling ... to lift itself into the wind
and live
| Quilting the Black-Eyed Pea | 1 | |
| Possum Crossing | 5 | |
| A Robin's Nest in Snow | 6 | |
| The Wind in the Bottle | 7 | |
| Rosa Parks | 8 | |
| What We Miss | 10 | |
| In the Spirit of Martin | 12 | |
| BLK History Month | 14 | |
| Shoulders Are For Emergencies Only | 15 | |
| I Always Think of Meatloaf | 16 | |
| Symphony of the Sphinx | 19 | |
| Cal Johnson Park in Knoxville, Tennessee | 21 | |
| Aunt Daughter and That Glorious Song | 22 | |
| Blackberry Cobbler | 25 | |
| The Son of the Sun | 26 | |
| No Complaints | 28 | |
| Here's to Gwen | 30 | |
| The train to Knoxville | 32 | |
| Twenty Reasons to Love Richard Williams | 34 | |
| Another Aretha Poem | 36 | |
| Ann's Poem | 38 | |
| A Community of Clouds | 39 | |
| Swinging on a Rainbow | 40 | |
| For Tony and Betty | 41 | |
| Word Olympics | 42 | |
| Desperate Acts | 45 | |
| 9:11:01 He Blew It | 46 | |
| The Self-Evident Poem | 50 | |
| Have Dinner with Me | 51 | |
| My America | 53 | |
| The Girls in the Circle | 57 | |
| The Meadow Throws A Birthday Party | 58 | |
| A Very Special Christmas | 60 | |
| Bring On The Bombs | 65 | |
| Making James Baldwin | 73 | |
| Beamer Ball | 77 | |
| Susan Smith | 80 | |
| Emerson Edward Rudd | 82 | |
| Art Sanctuary | 87 | |
| Sanctuary: For Harry Potter the Movie | 88 | |
| From Whence Cometh My Help | 91 | |
| A Miracle for Me | 93 | |
| A Deer in Headlights | 95 | |
| The Nashville Connection | 102 | |
| Redfish, Eels, and Heidi | 105 | |
| In Praise of a Teacher | 108 | |
| Don't Think | 109 | |
| The Song of the Feet | 110 |
Backing out the driveway
the car lights cast an eerie glow
in the morning fog centering
on movement in the rain slick street
Hitting brakes I anticipate a squirrel or a cat or sometimes
a little raccoon
I once braked for a blind little mole who try though he did
could not escape the cat toying with his life
Mother-to-be possum occasionally lopes home ... being
naturally ... slow her condition makes her even more ginger
We need a sign POSSUM CROSSING to warn coffee-gurgling
neighbors:
we share the streets with more than trucks and vans and
railroad crossings
All birds being the living kin of dinosaurs
think themselves invincible and pay no heed
to the rolling wheels while they dine
on an unlucky rabbit
I hit brakes for the flutter of the lights hoping it's nota deer
or a skunk or a groundhog
coffee splashes over the cup which I quickly put away from me
and into the empty passenger seat
I look ...
relieved and exasperated ...
to discover I have just missed a big wet leaf
struggling ... to lift itself into the wind
and live
Anonymous
Posted February 4, 2003
Nikki Giovanni (NG) really did a great job with her poetry and a better job getting her point across. The short stories had me consciously focused but I especially enjoyed Rosa Park's story. In my opinion, NG is one of the best American Black poets of today.
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Posted February 12, 2003
I enjoy you sharing your wisdom,journeys and knowledge with us all.You are well appreciated.From one artist to another with love. Cassandra Dillon(Author of "Reality Poems")
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.
Overview
When Nikki Giovanni's poems first emerged during the Civil Rights and Black Arts Movements of the 1960s, she immediately took a place among the most celebrated and influential poets of the era. Now, Giovanni continues to stand as one of the most commanding, luminous voices to grace America's political and poetic landscape.
In a career spanning over thirty years, Giovanni has created a body of work that's become vital and essential to our American consciousness. This collection ...