Resignation -- Nikki Giovanni

Guest poem sent in by Aseem

(Poem #1623) Resignation I love you because the earth turns round the sun because the North wind blows north sometimes because the Pope is Catholic and most Rabbis Jewish because winters flow into springs and the air clears after a storm because only my love for you despite the charms of gravity keeps me from falling off this Earth into another dimension I love you because it is the natural order of things I love you like the habit I picked up in college of sleeping through lectures or saying I'm sorry when I get stopped for speeding because I drink a glass of water in the morning and chain-smoke cigarettes all through the day because I take my coffee Black and my milk with chocolate because you keep my feet warm though my life a mess I love you because I don't want it any other way. I am helpless in my love for you It makes me so happy to hear you call my name I am amazed you can resist locking me in an echo chamber where your voice reverberates through the four walls sending me into spasmatic ecstasy I love you because it's been so good for so long that if I didn't love you I'd have to be born again and that is not a theological statement I am pitiful in my love for you The Dells tell me Love is so simple the thought though of you sends indescribably delicious multitudinous thrills throughout and through-in my body I love you because no two snowflakes are alike and it is possible if you stand tippy-toe to walk between the raindrops I love you because I am afraid of the dark and can't sleep in the light because I rub my eyes when I wake up in the morning and find you there because you with all your magic powers were determined that I should love you because there was nothing for you but that I would love you I love you because you made me want to love you more than I love my privacy my freedom my commitments and responsibilities I love you 'cause I changed my life to love you because you saw me one friday afternoon and decided that I would love you I love you I love you I love you -- Nikki Giovanni

[Note: The reference to the Dells in line 47 is to "Love is so simple"
a 1968 song from their album 'There is'. According to Giovanni, the
rhythm of this poem is the rhythm of the song.]

All right, if we have to give in to the Valentine spirit and get all
teary-eyed and maudlin about love, we might as well do it properly.

What I've always loved about Giovanni is her attitude - the deceptive
simplicity of her lines, the tone not only conversational but intimate
- so that reading her is like hearing yourself talk to a friend.

This is a superb example of that. It's not that the lines here are polished
to perfection, it's precisely that they wouldn't be if someone were really
saying this out loud, and what they lack in finesse they more than make up
in energy, in momentum, in sheer street-smartness.  And then of course, just
when you're beginning to run out enthusiasm, there's that one beautiful
little line (because only my love for you / despite the charms of gravity /
keep me from falling off the Earth) that keeps you going.

The other thing I like about this poem is the way Giovanni both expresses
the absoluteness of her love and (refusing to laud it for more than it is)
laughs at herself for it. Love is not a magical communion of souls here; it
is a bad habit that you can't get out of, a necessity, something you're too
used to to even question, much less give up. It is a love that gives you
both intense joy and honest suffering, it is deeply flawed and therefore
deeply personal. And this is not, in Giovanni, a cynical point of view, it
is a warm and real one.

If there's such a thing as being helplessly in love, this is it!

Aseem

[Links]

Biography:
  [broken link] http://pages.ivillage.com/crowyne/nikkibio.html

I'm not Lonely -- Nikki Giovanni

Guest poem submitted by Aseem:

(Poem #1540) I'm not Lonely i'm not lonely sleeping all alone you think i'm scared but i'm a big girl i don't cry or anything i have a great big bed to roll around in and lots of space and i don't dream bad dreams like i used to have that you were leaving me anymore now that you're gone i don't dream and no matter what you think i'm not lonely sleeping all alone -- Nikki Giovanni

Nikki Giovanni is (IMHO) one of the most under-represented poets on
Minstrels - you have just one poem by her! So figured I would put in one of
my favourites to even things up a little. Actually started thinking about
her after reading National Brotherhood Week, reading her more political
poems (see the Funeral of Martin Luther King Jr, for example) but finally
settled on this one to send in.

What I love about this poem is the aching simplicity of it - the almost
tearful courage of lines like "i'm a big girl / i don't cry or anthing" and
the bitter irony of getting over your bad dreams by having them come true
(also the brilliant double edge to "now that you're gone / i don't dream").
The real beauty here is that Giovanni does not protest too much - there's a
part of you that's tempted to believe her and there's a part of you that
knows it isn't true and you kind of get the sense that she doesn't believe
herself either. But would like to.

Aseem.

I Wrote A Good Omelet -- Nikki Giovanni

Guest poem submitted by Tiffany Mork:

(Poem #632) I Wrote A Good Omelet 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 I goed on red...and stopped on green....floating somewhere in between... being here and being there... after loving you I rolled my bed...turned down my hair...slightly confused but...I don't care... Laid out my teeth...and gargled my gown...then I stood ...and laid me down... to sleep... after loving you -- Nikki Giovanni

This poem has been a favorite of mine since high school, when a mentor, in a
desperate bid to keep me out of trouble, introduced me to Ms. Giovanni's
works and then Ms. Giovanni herself. The jumbled cliches and mixed up
phrases of everyday life so completely evoke the jumbled and mixed up
emotions of finding new love and being swept away with it, that one just
simply smiles and nods, understanding it completely.

Ms. Giovanni is currently a Professor of English at Virgina Polytechnic
Institute and State University; there's more biographical information at
[broken link] http://athena.english.vt.edu/Giovanni/cv/biog.html

Tiffany Mork.