Poet Extraordinaire Nikki Giovanni on Life &
Politics:
Lyrically Nikki
Politics:
Lyrically Nikki
Nikki Giovanni spoke in the Wisconsin Union
Theater March 21 as a part of the Union’s
Distinguished Lecture Series.
Theater March 21 as a part of the Union’s
Distinguished Lecture Series.
By Jonathan Gramling
Part 2 of 2
It is always an intellectual and emotional rush to hear Nikki Giovanni, one of the
most important African American poets of the 20th — and 21st — century. As a
speaker, Giovanni engages your mind as she touches your soul with a lyricism that
infuses your imagination with an economy of words. Whether it is as arcane as
Howie Mandel’s Deal or No Deal game show or as personal as her reflections on the
Virginia Tech massacre, Giovanni speaks truisms that speak to the lives of African
Americans and all of humanity.
Before her speech, The Capital City Hues has the privilege of talking with Giovanni
about a range of topics. Giovanni was very cordial and straight forward as we spoke
for about 30 minutes.
One will always know what is on Giovanni’s mind and the truth as she sees it. The
following are some excerpts from the interview with Giovanni:
On how love poetry helped her through the death of loved ones
“I love my love poetry because my mom died. While she was dying, I began a book. I finished it after she passed called Acolytes. And it
is because I recognized as we all must with the death of our mothers, it is very different from the death of our fathers. When your father
dies, you usually have your mother. And when your mother dies, in most cases, you have your brothers and sisters. But in my case, my
sister had a lung tumor that had metastasized to her liver and her brain. My mother died on June 20th and my sister was dying and she
died August 10th. And then my Aunt Anne died in October. I used Acolytes to kind of work through that. And I lost other good friends.
Mrs. Parks died and she was a friend. Coretta Scot King died and she was not a friend. But I knew her. A lot of the old ladies we just
lost. So I wrote a book and I don’t think of Acolytes as a sad book. It is a good book actually. It has some wonderful poems in there. But
as I was closing out — I guess this is just how my mind works — I had finished the book, but there was this poem. I thought, ‘Okay, I’m
going to put this poem in.’ And I did. It was actually a love poem, but I was playing with an idea. Then I had another poem and I put that
one in. So I said, ‘This book is finished’ and I closed it. But then I was trying to say to myself, ‘You need to cheer up.’ I was a Momma’s
Girl and so, I’ve been very sad. And nothing cheers you up like love poetry because it is so silly. And the whole idea of falling in love is
so ridiculous. I started writing love poems and then I was giggling. ‘What a dumb poem that is.’ I was just having a good time with it.
And I wrote the book Bicycles. That’s because — and this is quite true — love, like bicycles, requires trust and balance. You can’t ride a
bicycle without trust and balance. And that is the same thing with being in love. That book cheered me up to write. And I just sort of
challenged myself. I would see something and say, ‘Oh, let me see if I can write a love poem.’ I had a good time doing things like that.”
On the poem delivered at commencement after the Virginia Tech Massacre
“That was a hard poem. I’ve only watched it once recently and I watched it with Bill Moyers. I have it. Everyone was nice enough —
because I have friends in the industry — CNN, CBS and the others sent it. So I actually have a little box so that when people sent them, I
just put it in there. I didn’t want to watch it because it was very sad. I was asked to do something and I thought, ‘I need to be able to do
this.’ I was concerned. Sandy Smith who is the president’s secretary, called me and said, ‘Nikki, we need you to anchor convocation,
which is the first convocation after that. George Bush was coming, so we pushed convocation back. I knew some of the people who
were killed and I had taught the shooter. So it was very emotional for me. I thought, ‘You’re a poet, write something.’ So I sat down and I
wrote it, but I always felt as I was looking at it, ‘Oh gosh, this isn’t good enough. I need to go back and get a little more.’ Emotionally it
was a very draining day. I can’t begin to tell you how hard it was on all of us. So I just said I would go to bed and wake up in the
morning and I would do it. I woke up in the morning, took a shower and I said, Nikki, just do it because there is nothing left to be done.’ I
just knew I had no more to give, but I had to just do it. So I changed one thing because at the end, I had ended that poem originally as I
walked out of my home with ‘We will prevail.’ And then I realized that I needed to cap it back off with ‘We are Virginia Tech.’ That was
just going to be it. George Bush — and I am not a Republican as you know — was not sitting on stage because you couldn’t protect him
on the stage. He had to be in the audience so that people could watch. No one knew what was going on. We knew what had happened,
but no one knew the extent of it. So he was sitting down there. I’m not a Mr. President kind of a girl. So I didn’t change anything. I didn’t
even think about it. But when it was over, he said, ‘Good job.’ And I said, ‘Thank you Mr. President.’ That was it.”
On Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman
“They won’t even arrest Zimmerman. It is inconceivable to me. Someone goes and shoots Mr. Zimmerman, they will arrest him. Come
on now. The law has to function and we have to take it through all of the process. I’m a big fan of the law, whether it is Virginia Tech or
anyone else. It’s not that Virginia Tech has to answer for what it did. But we cannot answer for what someone else did. And Mr.
Zimmerman needs to be arrested because we simply took his word. We have really botched this because if he was drinking, we don’t
know. If he was smoking pot, we don’t know it because we let that go through. But we tested the dead boy. How could you not test the
shooter? How could that be? North Florida has a bad reputation. If you look at Rosewood, they have a bad reputation and every now and
then, you get a little city like that and it comes back out. You can’t just shoot people down. And he’s on the phone to his girl friend
saying, ‘This dude is following me.’ And Trayvon hadn’t done anything. That bothers you. So of course we’re going to get a wrongful
death suit going against Zimmerman if nothing else. But he committed a crime. He shot an unarmed man who was trying to get away
from him.”
is because I recognized as we all must with the death of our mothers, it is very different from the death of our fathers. When your father
dies, you usually have your mother. And when your mother dies, in most cases, you have your brothers and sisters. But in my case, my
sister had a lung tumor that had metastasized to her liver and her brain. My mother died on June 20th and my sister was dying and she
died August 10th. And then my Aunt Anne died in October. I used Acolytes to kind of work through that. And I lost other good friends.
Mrs. Parks died and she was a friend. Coretta Scot King died and she was not a friend. But I knew her. A lot of the old ladies we just
lost. So I wrote a book and I don’t think of Acolytes as a sad book. It is a good book actually. It has some wonderful poems in there. But
as I was closing out — I guess this is just how my mind works — I had finished the book, but there was this poem. I thought, ‘Okay, I’m
going to put this poem in.’ And I did. It was actually a love poem, but I was playing with an idea. Then I had another poem and I put that
one in. So I said, ‘This book is finished’ and I closed it. But then I was trying to say to myself, ‘You need to cheer up.’ I was a Momma’s
Girl and so, I’ve been very sad. And nothing cheers you up like love poetry because it is so silly. And the whole idea of falling in love is
so ridiculous. I started writing love poems and then I was giggling. ‘What a dumb poem that is.’ I was just having a good time with it.
And I wrote the book Bicycles. That’s because — and this is quite true — love, like bicycles, requires trust and balance. You can’t ride a
bicycle without trust and balance. And that is the same thing with being in love. That book cheered me up to write. And I just sort of
challenged myself. I would see something and say, ‘Oh, let me see if I can write a love poem.’ I had a good time doing things like that.”
On the poem delivered at commencement after the Virginia Tech Massacre
“That was a hard poem. I’ve only watched it once recently and I watched it with Bill Moyers. I have it. Everyone was nice enough —
because I have friends in the industry — CNN, CBS and the others sent it. So I actually have a little box so that when people sent them, I
just put it in there. I didn’t want to watch it because it was very sad. I was asked to do something and I thought, ‘I need to be able to do
this.’ I was concerned. Sandy Smith who is the president’s secretary, called me and said, ‘Nikki, we need you to anchor convocation,
which is the first convocation after that. George Bush was coming, so we pushed convocation back. I knew some of the people who
were killed and I had taught the shooter. So it was very emotional for me. I thought, ‘You’re a poet, write something.’ So I sat down and I
wrote it, but I always felt as I was looking at it, ‘Oh gosh, this isn’t good enough. I need to go back and get a little more.’ Emotionally it
was a very draining day. I can’t begin to tell you how hard it was on all of us. So I just said I would go to bed and wake up in the
morning and I would do it. I woke up in the morning, took a shower and I said, Nikki, just do it because there is nothing left to be done.’ I
just knew I had no more to give, but I had to just do it. So I changed one thing because at the end, I had ended that poem originally as I
walked out of my home with ‘We will prevail.’ And then I realized that I needed to cap it back off with ‘We are Virginia Tech.’ That was
just going to be it. George Bush — and I am not a Republican as you know — was not sitting on stage because you couldn’t protect him
on the stage. He had to be in the audience so that people could watch. No one knew what was going on. We knew what had happened,
but no one knew the extent of it. So he was sitting down there. I’m not a Mr. President kind of a girl. So I didn’t change anything. I didn’t
even think about it. But when it was over, he said, ‘Good job.’ And I said, ‘Thank you Mr. President.’ That was it.”
On Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman
“They won’t even arrest Zimmerman. It is inconceivable to me. Someone goes and shoots Mr. Zimmerman, they will arrest him. Come
on now. The law has to function and we have to take it through all of the process. I’m a big fan of the law, whether it is Virginia Tech or
anyone else. It’s not that Virginia Tech has to answer for what it did. But we cannot answer for what someone else did. And Mr.
Zimmerman needs to be arrested because we simply took his word. We have really botched this because if he was drinking, we don’t
know. If he was smoking pot, we don’t know it because we let that go through. But we tested the dead boy. How could you not test the
shooter? How could that be? North Florida has a bad reputation. If you look at Rosewood, they have a bad reputation and every now and
then, you get a little city like that and it comes back out. You can’t just shoot people down. And he’s on the phone to his girl friend
saying, ‘This dude is following me.’ And Trayvon hadn’t done anything. That bothers you. So of course we’re going to get a wrongful
death suit going against Zimmerman if nothing else. But he committed a crime. He shot an unarmed man who was trying to get away
from him.”
