The Collected Poetry of Nikki Giovanni (29 page)

L. 63: “champagne was shipped out of the East”: Giovanni told me in an interview that she intended this as a reference to the defeat of the French in 1954 in the French Indochina War.

Ll. 64–65: “kosher pork…Africa”: Giovanni stated in an interview with me that this line compares the Zionists in Israel to pigs.

Ll. 71–72: “great white prince…texas”: John F. Kennedy (1917–63), thirty-fifth President of the United States.

Ll. 73–74: “Black shining prince…cathedral”: Malcolm X, later Al Hajj Malik Al-Shabazz (1925–65), was assassinated on February 21, 1965, at the Audubon Ballroom in New York City. A charismatic Black Nationalist leader, he was suspended from the Black Muslim movement and subsequently founded the Organization of Afro-American Unity. He was gunned down by three Black Muslims who were eventually convicted, but controversy about his assassination continues. Thomas à Becket (1118–70) was Archbishop of Canterbury. King Henry II of England and Becket were friends when then Archbishop Theobald died; Henry appointed Becket to the post in hopes of strengthening his own position vis-à-vis the Church. But Becket did not automatically support the king; their relationship deteriorated steadily. In a standoff about
the power of the state over the Church, King Henry became infuriated with Becket and apparently spoke words to the effect that he wished someone would rid him of the archbishop. Four knights hoping to gain favor with Henry went to Canterbury and killed Becket on the altar of the cathedral, in the midst of a service. Not only did the knights fail in their attempt to court Henry's favor but the king himself, some four years later, made a penitential walk through Canterbury and spent the night in Becket's crypt.

L. 75: “our nigger in memphis”: Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–68), who was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968.

“Knoxville, Tennessee”

Giovanni and her sister usually spent their summers with their maternal grandparents, Louvenia and John Brown Watson, in Knoxville.

“Records”

U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy (1925–68), a presidential candidate, was shot in Los Angeles on June 5, 1968, and died on June 6. This poem was written on June 6, the day before Giovanni's twenty-fifth birthday.

L. 5: “johnson”: President Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–73), thirty-sixth President of the United States (1963–69).

L. 13: “family”: The Kennedy family.

L. 17: “bobby”: Senator Robert F. Kennedy.

“Adulthood (For Claudia)”

Claudia Anderson was a friend in Cincinnati with whom Giovanni worked at Walgreens.

Ll. 2–4: “indianapolis…my aunt”: Giovanni often visited one of her aunts, Agnes Chapman, who lived in Indianapolis, a short distance from Cincinnati.

L. 36: “hammarskjöld”: Dag Hammarskjöld (1905–61), secretary-general of the United Nations (1953–61). He was killed
on his way to the Congo when his plane crashed in northern Rhodesia (now Zambia).

L. 37: “lumumba”: Patrice Lumumba (1925–61) was the first prime minister of the Republic of the Congo (now Zaire). A charismatic leader of the independence movement in the Congo, Lumumba had radical anticolonialist politics that eventually led to a split in the Congo's first national political party, Mouvement National Congolais, which he founded in 1958. He was killed in January 1961; both his death and unsuccessful attempts to cover up the truth about it outraged activists throughout the world. The possible role played by the Belgian or the U.S. government in his death is still uncertain.

L. 38: “diem”: Ngo Dinh Diem (1901–63), president (1955–63) of South Vietnam, murdered in a military coup which was covertly backed by the United States on November 1, 1963.

L. 39: “kennedy”: John F. Kennedy (1917–63), thirty-fifth President of the United States, was assassinated on November 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas.

L. 40: “malcolm”: Malcolm X, later Al Hajj Malik Al-Shabazz (1925–65), was assassinated on February 21, 1965, at the Audubon Ballroom in New York City. A charismatic Black Nationalist leader, he was suspended from the Nation of Islam and subsequently founded the Organization of Afro-American Unity. He was gunned down by three Black Muslims who were eventually convicted, but controversy about his assassination—for example, the possible role in it of the federal government—continues.

L. 41: “evers”: Medgar Wiley Evers (1925–63), Civil Rights activist and Mississippi field secretary for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), was murdered in the doorway of his home in Jackson, Mississippi, on June 12, 1963, by the white supremacist Byron de la Beckwith. Beckwith stood trial twice, in 1963 and 1964, but not until 1994 was he convicted of the crime.

L. 42: “schwerner, chaney and goodman”: Michael Schwerner (1940–64), James E. Chaney (1943–64), and Andrew Goodman
(1943–64) were three Civil Rights activists who worked in Black voter registration in Mississippi and were murdered by members of the Ku Klux Klan, with the complicity of law enforcement officers. After a massive search, including 200 naval personnel, their bodies were found buried not far from Philadelphia, Mississippi. Despite the fact that everyone—including the Federal Bureau of Investigation—knew who the killers were, it was three years before Neshoba County Sheriff Lawrence Rainey, Chief Deputy Sheriff Cecil Price, and five others were convicted on federal charges of violating the civil rights of the three. No state charges were ever filed.

L. 43: “liuzzo”: Viola Gregg Liuzzo (1925–65), a medical lab technician, mother, and activist from Michigan. She was killed in an automobile on the Selma Highway on March 26, 1965, because a car with members of the Ku Klux Klan saw her, a white woman, in the same automobile as a black man. The four KKK members were arrested, and one agreed to testify against the other three, but they were all acquitted of murder. Eventually, through orders from President Johnson, they were convicted on federal charges of conspiring to deprive Liuzzo of her civil rights. Viola Liuzzo is the only white woman honored at the Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery, Alabama.

L. 44: “stokely”: Stokely Carmichael, later Kwame Ture (1941–98), Civil Rights activist, chair of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (1966–67), and “prime minister” of the Black Panthers. Carmichael is credited with creating the slogan “Black Power.” He moved to Guinea in 1968, and in 1973 he became a citizen of Uganda.

L. 45: “le roi”: LeRoi Jones, now Amiri Baraka (1934–). See note to “Poem (No Name No. 3),”.

L. 46: “rap”: H. Rap Brown, now Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin (1943–). See note to “Detroit Conference of Unity and Art,”.

L. 47: “pollard, thompson and cooper”: Three SNCC workers on their way to California who were killed in Texas.

L. 48: “king”: Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–68).

L. 49: “kennedy”: Robert F. Kennedy (1925–68).

“From a Logical Point of View”

L. 12: “dream deferred”: See Langston Hughes's poem “Harlem,” the famous first line of which is “What happens to a dream deferred?”

“Dreams”

L. 6: “raelet”: The Raelettes (originally known as the Cookies) were a female backup trio for the singer Ray Charles.

L. 7: “dr o wn d in my youn tears”: “Drown in My Own Tears” was one of Ray Charles's big hits.

L. 8: “tal kin bout”: Another Ray Charles hit, “Talking About You.”

L. 9: “marjorie hendricks”: Marjorie Hendricks was the gritty-voiced lead singer of the Raelettes.

L. 12: “baaaaaby nightandday”: Words from another big Ray Charles hit, “The Night Time Is the Right Time.”

L. 19: “sweet inspiration”: The Sweet Inspirations were back ground singers for Atlantic Records. The lead singer was Cissy Houston (mother of Whitney); the others were Estelle Brown, Sylvia Shemwell, and Myrna Smith. The Sweet Inspirations, who sang background vocals for many of Aretha Franklin's hits, sang three-part harmony, unlike the Raelettes, who sang the blues.

“Revolutionary Music”

This poem, which is both about and constructed from the names of musical groups, themes, and songs, asserts the political implications of much popular music recorded by Black musicians during the 1960s. It was cited by Stephen Henderson as an excellent example of “the use of tonal memory as poetic structure” in Black poetry. By “tonal memory,” he means “the practice…of forcing the reader to incorporate into the structure of the poem his memory of a specific song, or passage of a song, or even of a spe
cific delivery technique. Without this specific memory the poem cannot be properly realized.” See Stephen Henderson,
Understanding the New Black Poetry: Black Speech and Black Music as Poetic References
(New York: William Morrow, 1973), pp. 53–54.

Ll. 1–2: “sly/and the family stone”: Sly and the Family Stone was an important musical group in the late 1960s; they brought together gospel, rhythm and blues, and rock.

L. 4: “dancing to the music”: “Dance to the Music” was the first major hit by Sly and the Family Stone.

L. 5: “james brown”: James Brown (1933–), the Godfather of Soul, inventor of funk, and quite likely the most important contributor to and influence on soul music.

Ll. 11–14: “although you happy…taking you on”: This line is from “Money Won't Change You,” a big hit for James Brown that later was covered by Aretha Franklin.

L. 19: “good god! ugh!”: Words from James Brown's “I Can't Stand Myself (When You Touch Me).”

L. 21: “i got the feeling baby”: Another James Brown hit, “I've Got the Feeling.”

L. 23: “martha and the vandellas dancing in the street”: Martha and the Vandellas, one of the most important girl groups of the 1960s, were a gritty and soulful alternative to their chief rivals, the Supremes. The group originated in Detroit in 1962 and was anchored by Martha Reeves, the lead singer. “Dancin' in the Streets” was perhaps their biggest hit. In an interview, Giovanni stated that she and other young Black revolutionaries understood the song to be a coded reference to the Detroit riots.

L. 24: “shorty long…at that junction”: Frederick “Shorty” Long, born in Birmingham, Alabama, was a musician and recording artist who signed with Motown in 1963. He cowrote (with Eddie Holland) and performed “Function at the Junction,” which eventually became a classic and which carries a strong political message.

Ll. 26–27: “aretha said they better/think”: Aretha Franklin (1942–), the undisputed “Queen of Soul.” “Think” was a hit single with significant political overtones; it was recorded on the album
Aretha Now,
released in 1968.

L. 29: “ain't no way to love you”: “Ain't No Way,” which was written by Aretha Franklin's sister, Carolyn, was recorded on the album
Lady Soul,
released in 1968.

L. 31: “the o'jays”: Taking their name from the radio DJ Eddie O'Jay, the O'Jays had more than fifty hit singles during their forty-year career.

L. 34: “mighty mighty impressions”: The Impressions were a Chicago group led by Curtis Mayfield; the original group also included Jerry Butler, whose lead vocals helped make “For Your Precious Love” a huge hit and launched Butler's solo career. Among their many hits was the 1968 “We're a Winner,” one of the earliest R & B celebrations of Black pride.

L. 40: “temptations”: The Temptations, a five-member group, were the most successful of Motown's male vocal groups.

L. 41: “supremes”: The Supremes, eventually a three-member group, were the most successful of Motown's female vocal groups.

L. 42: “delfonics”: A male trio, the Delfonics were one of the first groups to exhibit the smooth and soulful style that eventually became known as the “Philly sound.”

L. 43: “miracles”: The Miracles, a male vocal group led by the singer and songwriter Smokey Robinson, helped define the Motown sound.

L. 44: “intruders”: The Intruders were a male vocal group from Philadelphia who signed with Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff's record company, Philadelphia International Records. They were innovators in the Philly sound.

L. 45: “beatles”: Contrary to the suggestion of these lines, Gio vanni is actually an admirer of the music of the Beatles (witness her poem “This Is Not for John Lennon,”).

L. 45: “animals”: A British male quintet, the Animals were one of the most important of the British R & B groups of the 1960s.

L. 46: “young rascals”: A white, male rock band, the Young Ras cals had a penchant for playing Black soul music, sometimes dubbed “blue-eyed soul.”

L. 49: “sam cooke”: Sam Cooke (1931–64) was a popular and influential singer who emerged in the 1950s as a gospel star and
then began recording popular songs, including the megahits “You Send Me” and “Wonderful World.” His influence on soul music as well as on many of its best-known performers cannot be overstated. “A Change Is Gonna Come,” recorded in February 1964, was his last great ballad. Controversy still surrounds his violent death.

“Beautiful Black Men (With compliments and apologies to all not mentioned by name)”

L. 9: “running numbers”: The numbers was a popular illegal gambling game played in Black communities all over the country, similar to (and largely replaced by) state lotteries. A numbers runner (analogous to a bookie) collected and paid off bets made each day.

L. 10: “hogs”: Cadillac automobiles.

L. 11: “walking their dogs”: “Walking the Dog” was a dance popularized by Rufus Thomas, a DJ in Memphis and father of Carla Thomas, who recorded the smash hit “Gee Whiz (Look at His Eyes).”

L. 15: “jerry butler”: The performer and composer Jerry “the Iceman” Butler started his career as a member of the Impressions and subsequently had many hit songs as a soloist.