Nikki Giovanni’s slightly raspy, slightly sibilant voice draws listeners into this important collection of poetry and prose. Letting her poet’s sense guide her tempo, Giovanni wrings the humor, anger, and sorrow out of being Black in America. In “And So It Comes to This,” Giovanni’s mocking tone is the perfect match for a scathing indictment of white men and their obsession with a false supremacy. Her palpable anger recalls the death of Michael Brown in “Ferguson: the Musical,” and her heart seems to be breaking as she describes “the brother” getting up in the dark to drive to the Million Man March. Warm tones express themes of quilts and songs and love. As Giovanni tells us, “All is transition and love is forever.” S.G. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine
Make Me Rain: Poems & Prose
Narrated by Nikki Giovanni
Nikki GiovanniUnabridged — 2 hours, 8 minutes
Make Me Rain: Poems & Prose
Narrated by Nikki Giovanni
Nikki GiovanniUnabridged — 2 hours, 8 minutes
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Overview
Whether it's personal or political, we need Nikki Giovanni's beautiful and poetic voice. The poems and prose in Make Me Rain are sometimes dedicated to friends, family or her literary peers. But in each one of them, we can hear her speaking to us, making the "big" in life easier to understand, putting us shoulder to shoulder with giants (our mothers, our friends, strangers) and letting us know she is here to embolden us. We dare you to read "Vote" and not do so. Keep the poem in your pocket this fall. It will take you far.
An extraordinary listening experience! Hear Nikki Giovanni read from her newest collection of poems!
One of America's most celebrated poets challenges us with this powerful and deeply personal collection of verse that speaks to the injustices of society while illuminating the depths of her own heart.
For more than fifty years, Nikki Giovanni's poetry has dazzled and inspired readers. As sharp and outspoken as ever, she returns with this profound book of poetry in which she continues to call attention to injustice and racism, celebrate Black culture and Black lives, and and give readers an unfiltered look into her own experiences.
In Make Me Rain, she celebrates her loved ones and unapologetically declares her pride in her Black heritage, while exploring the enduring impact of the twin sins of racism and white nationalism. Giovanni reaffirms her place as a uniquely vibrant and relevant American voice with poems such as “I Come from Athletes” and “Rainy Days”-calling out segregation and Donald Trump; as well as “Unloved (for Aunt Cleota)” and “”When I Could No Longer”-her personal elegy for the relatives who saved her from an abusive home life.
Stirring, provocative, and resonant, the poems in Make Me Rain pierce the heart and nourish the soul.
Editorial Reviews
11/23/2020
Giovanni (Chasing Utopia: A Hybrid) celebrates in her poignant 20th collection art as redemptive of traumas past and present, illuminating the ways in which “the blues is our encyclopedia.” With a mind attuned to ironies, Giovanni considers refuge from systemic injustice: “I remember sitting/ During the age of segregation/ In the ‘colored’ car/ Where the Pullman Porters looked out/ For my sister and me/ And we didn’t understand we were/ Not wanted/ We loved it.” In “When I Could No Longer,” speakers affirm the healing power of community against personal abuse, elegizing godmothers, grandmothers, educators and friends, including the late Toni Morrison. The most memorable moments in the collection reveal the cutting directness that made her a laureate of the Black Arts Movement: “The blues may talk about/ My man/ Or my woman/ Who left me/ Or took my money/ And is gone/ But what they mean/ Is I was stolen/ In an African war.” Similarly, in “Lemonade Grows From Soil, Too,” the speaker wryly notes, “Everybody wants to confuse love with sex. Ask Bill Cosby about that.” Such pleasurable jolts offset the collection’s more rhetorically slack moments and reinforce Giovanni’s unapologetic commitment to documenting both injustice and joy. (Oct.)
Black love, Black struggle and Black joy have long been at the center of Giovanni’s work. Her newest book is thick with affection for African-American people in their everyday lives.” — New York Times
“Giovanni . . . celebrates in her poignant 20th collection art as redemptive of traumas past and present, illuminating the way in which ‘the blues is our encyclopedia’ . . . The most memorable moments in the collection reveal the cutting directness that made her a laureate of the Black Arts Movement.” — Publishers Weekly
“Nikki Giovanni—one of the great poets of any generation—still has much to impart in Make Me Rain, her hybrid autobiography of poems and prose. Given the tumultuous aspects of 2020, the disruptions and the dislocations of quotidian and public life, there’s a refreshing discordance in reading Giovanni’s newest and especially personal collection... This book is indeed a love letter, a celebration, both musical and soft-spoken, that doesn’t shy away from politics or pain, but is, above all, hopeful and thankful... History matters. Storytelling matters. Who we choose to be matters. Nikki Giovanni—this collection—reminds us of why.” — Chicago Review of Books
“The work of Nikki Giovanni has been as evolutionary as it has been revolutionary. One of the finest poets of our time. . . Her work still resonates.” — Ebony
“Nikki Giovanni’s work has always been remarkable for energy, venturesomeness, direct honesty, and courage.” — Gwendolyn Brooks
Nikki Giovanni’s work has always been remarkable for energy, venturesomeness, direct honesty, and courage.”
Black love, Black struggle and Black joy have long been at the center of Giovanni’s work. Her newest book is thick with affection for African-American people in their everyday lives.”
The work of Nikki Giovanni has been as evolutionary as it has been revolutionary. One of the finest poets of our time. . . Her work still resonates.”
Nikki Giovanni—one of the great poets of any generation—still has much to impart in Make Me Rain, her hybrid autobiography of poems and prose. Given the tumultuous aspects of 2020, the disruptions and the dislocations of quotidian and public life, there’s a refreshing discordance in reading Giovanni’s newest and especially personal collection... This book is indeed a love letter, a celebration, both musical and soft-spoken, that doesn’t shy away from politics or pain, but is, above all, hopeful and thankful... History matters. Storytelling matters. Who we choose to be matters. Nikki Giovanni—this collection—reminds us of why.”
05/01/2020
Distinguished African American poet/activist Giovanni, winner of the Black Caucus of the ALA Honor Award for Nonfiction among dozens of other awards, celebrates her heritage and head-butts Donald Trump's policies in her first volume of verse in seven years. With a 50,000-copy first printing.
Nikki Giovanni’s slightly raspy, slightly sibilant voice draws listeners into this important collection of poetry and prose. Letting her poet’s sense guide her tempo, Giovanni wrings the humor, anger, and sorrow out of being Black in America. In “And So It Comes to This,” Giovanni’s mocking tone is the perfect match for a scathing indictment of white men and their obsession with a false supremacy. Her palpable anger recalls the death of Michael Brown in “Ferguson: the Musical,” and her heart seems to be breaking as she describes “the brother” getting up in the dark to drive to the Million Man March. Warm tones express themes of quilts and songs and love. As Giovanni tells us, “All is transition and love is forever.” S.G. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine
Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940173252838 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | HarperCollins |
| Publication date: | 10/20/2020 |
| Edition description: | Unabridged |
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