"Nikki-Rosa" by Nikki Giovanni

Starting off our week with an iconic poem by the legendary American poet.

Nikki Giovanni. Photo by Monica Morgan.

Happy Tuesday fellow bluestockings. I would like to welcome and thank my newest paid supporter Salli Berg Seeley who also just happens to be a wonderful good friend of mine. We met when we both taught at Chicago’s Roosevelt University. Just imagine my surprise and joy when I discovered her support Monday morning. Salli is a poet and an incredible writing and literature teacher. Thank you so much, Salli! Your support helps me grow and develop my newsletter.

Last week I discovered the audio series Notes on a Native Son from the WNYC Studios podcast Notes from America with Kai Wright. This podcast celebrating the centennial year of novelist, essayist and Civil Rights activist James Baldwin's birth features interviews with authors and change makers. Nikki Giovanni will appear in an upcoming episode.

Her appearance made me recall the Max documentary about Giovanni titled Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project. The documentary included a portion of the 28-year-old Giovanni interviewing Baldwin on WNET’s Soul!. I am looking forward to the Giovanni episode of Notes on a Native Son.

A formidable poet and activist in the Black Arts and Black Power movement, Giovanni’s lyrics, activism and themes continue to captivate, energize and inspire readers, scholars, poets, activists and other writers. Before her retirement in 2022, Giovanni taught students and emerging writers at Virginia Tech University.

In a few weeks, the United States will hopefully elect not only its first women President but its first Black and Indian woman president. To celebrate Giovanni and Vice President Kamala Harris, I wanted to present Giovanni’s remarkable poem “Nikki-Rosa.”

“Nikki-Rosa” by Nikki Giovanni

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   
from one of those
big tubs that folk in chicago barbecue in   
and somehow when you talk about home   
it never gets across how much you
understood their feelings
as the whole family attended meetings about Hollydale
and even though you remember
your biographers never understand
your father’s pain as he sells his stock   
and another dream goes
And though you’re poor it isn’t poverty that
concerns you
and though they fought a lot
it isn’t your father’s drinking that makes any difference   
but only that everybody is together and you
and your sister have happy birthdays and very good   
Christmases
and I really hope no white person ever has cause   
to write about me
because they never understand
Black love is Black wealth and they’ll
probably talk about my hard childhood
and never understand that
all the while I was quite happy

For my readers in the United States and my U.S. American readers living abroad, check your voting registration at IWillVote.com If you are not registered to vote or you have not voted in years, you can also register to vote at IWillVote.com.

If you want to add to your vote’s power, consider a volunteer opportunity at mobilize.us.