The Collected Poetry of Nikki Giovanni (12 page)

on the road to damascus

to slay the christians

saul saw the light

and was blinded by that light

and looked into the Darkness

and embraced that Darkness

and saul arose from the great white way

saying “I Am Paul

who would slay you

but I saw the Darkness

and I am that Darkness”

then he raised his voice

singing red black and green songs

saying “I am the lion

in daniel's den

I am the lion thrown to slaughter”

do not fear the lion

for he is us

and we are all

in daniel's den

some small island birthed

her and a big (probably) white ship took her

from mother to come

to america's recreation

she lives in the top of my building

i only know her through her eyes

she is old now not only from years

but from aging

one gets the impression she was most

beautiful and like good wine

or a semiprecious jewel touted out

for the pleasure of those

who could afford

her recreation

her head is always high

though the set of her mouth shows

it's not easy

she asks nothing

seems to have something

to give but no one to give it

to if ever she gave it

to anyone

age requires happy memories like louvenia smiled

when she died and though her doctor had told her not

to there was pork cooking

on the stove

there are so many new mistakes

for a lady of pleasure

that can be made it shouldn't be

necessary to repeat the old

ones

and it was cold

on the elevator that morning

when i spoke to her and foolishly asked

how are you

she smiled and tilted her head

at least, i said, the sun is

shining

and her eyes smiled yes

and i was glad to be

there to say through spirits

there is a new creation

to her

they ain't gonna never get

rap

he's a note turned himself

into a million songs listen

to aretha call

his name

he's a light

turned himself into our homes

look how well we see

since he came

he's a spirit turned

pisces to aries

alpha to omega

he's a man

turned himself into Black

women

and we turn little hims

loose on the world

if you plant grain

you get fields of flour

if you plant seeds

you get grass

or babies

i planted once

and a robin red breast flew

in my window

but a tom cat wouldn't let it

stay

if trees could talk

wonder what they'd say

met an old man

on the road late after noon

hat pulled over to shade

his eyes

jacket slumped over his

shoulders

told me “girl! my hands seen

more than all

them books they got

at Tuskegee”

smiled at me

half waved his hand

walked on down the dusty road

met an old woman

with a corncob pipe

sitting and rocking

on a spring evening

“sista” she called to me

“let me tell you—my feet

seen more than yo eyes

ever gonna read”

smiled at her and kept

on moving

gave it a thought and went

back to the porch

“i say gal” she called down

“you a student at the institute?

better come here and study

these feet

i'm gonna cut a bunion off

soons i gets up”

i looked at her

she laughed at me

if trees would talk

wonder what they'd tell me

it was good for the virgin mary

it was good enough for mary

it was good for the virgin mary

it's good enough for me

Chorus

the white man is

nocturnal that's why

he wants to get to the moon

it's his rising sign

he's a vampire see

how he strikes between

dusk and dawn preying

on us day light

comes he has to be back

in his casket or office as

they call them now but

dracula would be quite comfortable

if the cracker were natural then the by

products from his body would grow

natural plants like when we are

buried flowers grow see

the stones that spring up among

their dead

nothing violates nature all

the time and even white

people came south for warmth

when the ice age hit

europe

christians should note that

it was ice water and now

fire cause the cracker is playing

with atomic matches

allah told us all

we need to know when he called

mankind hueman beings just because

they dropped the “e” the concept remains

colored cause we recognize

if we add “s” to hisstory why we ain't

a part of it or put “n” back in

democracy and you'll understand

the present system war

is raw any way you look

at it even with a spanish touch

and god is a dog

when the romans started counting

they started with one and went to x

an unknown mathematically speaking

so we know they couldn't deal

with twelve zodiac signs

aquarius died when

they buried atlantis this

is the age of pisces

check it out

I was born in the congo

I walked to the fertile crescent and built

the sphinx

I designed a pyramid so tough that a star

that only glows every one hundred years falls

into the center giving divine perfect light

I am bad

I sat on the throne

drinking nectar with allah

I got hot and sent an ice age to europe

to cool my thirst

My oldest daughter is nefertiti

the tears from my birth pains

created the nile

I am a beautiful woman

I gazed on the forest and burned

out the sahara desert

with a packet of goat's meat

and a change of clothes

I crossed it in two hours

I am a gazelle so swift

so swift you can't catch me

For a birthday present when he was three

I gave my son hannibal an elephant

He gave me rome for mother's day

My strength flows ever on

My son noah built new/ark and

I stood proudly at the helm

as we sailed on a soft summer day

I turned myself into myself and was

jesus

men intone my loving name

All praises All praises

I am the one who would save

I sowed diamonds in my back yard

My bowels deliver uranium

the filings from my fingernails are

semi-precious jewels

On a trip north

I caught a cold and blew

My nose giving oil to the arab world

I am so hip even my errors are correct

I sailed west to reach east and had to round off

the earth as I went

The hair from my head thinned and gold was laid

across three continents

I am so perfect so divine so ethereal so surreal

I cannot be comprehended

except by my permission

I mean…I…can fly

like a bird in the sky…

homosexuality

(an invention of saul

as played to perfection by the pope)

is two people

of similar sex
DOING IT

that's all

i wish i could have been oppressed

by straightened hair

then i wouldn't have had no problems

till after emancipation when mme. walker

captured our kinks

i think it would have been hip to be oppressed

by greek letter organizations from APA to GDI

then the very earliest i would have had problems

was with the founding of howard university

or really i could dig oppression by the pig

greasy though he is he always fed me

or yeah let me bring it on down oppression

by diana ross leaving the supremes would be choice

then i wouldn't have had no problems at all till the mafia

took over motown

and my number one choice i swear would be neo-colonialism

by bell bottom pants cause we all recognize how they have

kept us in bondage for the last four hundred years

i mean i could really dig being oppressed by Black men

cause that would mean at least someone i love

is in power

what i'm gonna say one more time is i'm

oppressed by crackers

and that's what i've gotta deal

with

if they put you in a jack-in-the-box poet

would you pop up poeming a positive poem on

positive Blackness

would you poet a loving rawls poem and a real

st. jacques poem before they put them in a box

could you poet beyond the greek symbol into

the need for fraternity

if they put you in a wind up toy would you spin out liberated

woman

would you spin out a feminist or feminine

women have a different reality from men

would you spin into the arms of a Black man

or the clutch of white women

could you spin into an orphan home and liberate

a Black baby

if they took our insides out would we be still

Black people or would we become play toys

for master players

there's a reason we lose a lot it's not our game

and we don't know how to score

listen here

i wanna take you higher

the white man sent me

the
EVERYTHING
card

so i called the jew

to buy my house

he said: is you colored

i says: yeah! i wanna

charge my house

he said: you give me a charge

and we'll work it out

burned
EVERYTHING
up

the mailman brought me

the bankamericard to guarantee

my checks

checked myself and sent it

back

then on a weak day they sent

the UNICard and i really needed

something

so i worked my juju

and turned it

into a man

when she was little

and colored and ugly with short

straightened hair

and a very pretty smile

she went to sunday school to hear

'bout nebuchadnezzar the king

of the jews

and she would listen

shadrach, meshach and abednego in the fire

and she would learn

how god was neither north

nor south east or west

with no color but all

she remembered was that

Sheba was Black and comely

and she would think

i want to be

like that

sometimes

when i wake up

in the morning

and see all the faces

i just can't

breathe

i wish i were

a shadow

oh wow! when they put

the light on

me i'd grow

longer and taller and
BLACKER

i don't want you to think

that i don't know the pain

when you say sister diana don't sing

like she used to

cause i heard dionne making way for just like me

and i remembered the expectation

and the little surprises her albums

used to bring

the little love notes that told someone

what i felt and the ultimate surprise

when she didn't sing for me and my love

no more and the pain was deep

cause the pleasure had been so complete

and i can dig when you say sing

like you used to but maybe we can

remember

we don't poet like that

no more either