The Collected Poetry of Nikki Giovanni (31 page)

L. 67 “lil green”: Lil Green (1919–54), Chicago blues singer
who achieved a successful touring and recording career. One of her big hits was “Romance in the Dark,” which Franklin recorded as “In the Dark.”

Ll. 69–70: “‘i say a little prayer'…anymore”: Dionne Warwick (1940–), pop singer whose string of hits from her collaboration with Burt Bacharach and Hal David earned her multiple Grammys. “I Say a Little Prayer” was a Bacharach-David composition for Warwick that Franklin later recorded as well.

L. 71: “money won't change you”: This song was initially a James Brown hit.

L. 72: “james can't sing ‘respect'”: “Respect,” written by Otis Redding, was one of Franklin's biggest hits, if not her signature song. Although she had a hit with her cover of James Brown's “Money Can't Change You,” Brown could not similarly record “Respect.”

L. 73: “ray charles from marlboro country”: In the 1960s, Ray Charles moved away from R & B into country and western music, recording, for example, “Your Cheatin' Heart” in 1962.

L. 75: “nancy wilson”: Nancy Wilson (1937–) jazz and pop singer.

L. 77: “dionne”: Dionne Warwick; see note to line 69.

L. 81: “you make me/feel”: One of Franklin's big hits was “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman,” first released on her 1968 album,
Lady Soul.
The song was written by Carole King and Jerry Wexler.

L. 81: “the blazers”: Dyke & the Blazers, a little remembered R & B group led by Dyke Christian (1943–71); they had a huge hit with “Let a Woman Be a Woman—Let a Man Be a Man.”

Ll. 83–85: “when my soul…claim it”: Another line from Franklin's “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman.”

L. 85: “joplin said ‘maybe'”: Janis Joplin (1943–70), blues and rock and roll star who died of an accidental drug overdose. She had a hit song entitled “Maybe.”

Ll. 87–89: “when humphrey…james brown”: Franklin declined to help with Hubert Humphrey's presidential campaign, but James Brown agreed to do so.

L. 90: “otis”: Otis Redding (1941–67), one of the greatest soul singers and writers of all time, was killed in an airplane crash in Madison, Wisconsin. Although some people aboard survived the crash, Redding and four members of his backup group, the Bar-Kays, were killed; Giovanni has stated her belief that the crash was not an accident. Redding wrote “Respect,” which Franklin recorded in the spring of 1967 (he died on December 10 of that year).

Ll. 91–92: “the impressions…‘moving/on up'”: 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. The quoted line is from their hit song, “We're a Winner.”

L. 98: “temptations say…‘think about it'”: The Temptations, a five-member group, were the most successful of Motown's male vocal groups.

“Revolutionary Dreams”

Ll. 12–15: “natural/dreams…natural”: This poem makes use of Aretha Franklin's 1968 hit song, “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman.”

“Walking Down Park”

L. 1: “park”: Park Avenue in New York City.

L. 2: “amsterdam”: Amsterdam Avenue in New York City.

L. 3: “columbus”: Columbus Avenue in New York City.

L. 18: “central park”: Central Park in New York City.

L. 30: “time's squares”: A play on Times Square, also in New York City.

“Kidnap Poem”

L. 6 “jones beach”: Jones Beach State Park in Wantagh, Long Island.

L. 7: “coney island”: Coney Island is an amusement park and beach spot in Brooklyn, New York.

L. 16: “red Black green”: Especially during the 1960s, Black
Nationalists began sporting these colors as a symbol of Blackness and Black solidarity. The origin of the colors, however, dates back to Marcus Garvey's United Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), which was founded in 1914 and promoted the unification of all African peoples throughout the Diaspora. The UNIA's flag was red, black, and green.

“The Genie in the Jar (For Nina Simone)”

Nina Simone (1933–2003), “High Priestess of Soul,” musician, singer, and political diva. Giovanni dedicated two poems to Simone, with whom she enjoyed a brief friendship; the other is “Poem (For Nina),”.

“The Lion In Daniel's Den (for Paul Robeson, Sr.)”

Paul Robeson (1898–1976) was an activist, athlete, singer, and actor. The son of a runaway slave and an abolitionist Quaker, Robeson won a four-year academic scholarship to Rutgers University, where he excelled in both athletics and academics: he won fifteen varsity letters in sports, was initiated into Phi Beta Kappa in his junior year, and graduated as valedictorian. Despite having been named twice to the All-American Football Team, he was not inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame until 1995, nearly two decades after his death. He attended Columbia Law School and practiced law briefly but then turned to theater and music. He played many lead roles on the stage for which he won international acclaim, and he starred in a number of films. His outspokenness about injustice and inequality eventually led to charges of being a Communist brought against him by the House Un-American Activities Committee, which grievously harmed his career. In 1950 the United States revoked his passport, and he struggled for eight years to regain it so as to be able to travel abroad, essential to his work. At the time this poem was written (1970), both Robeson and his son, Paul Robeson, Jr., were alive; hence the designation “Sr.”

The poem combines two biblical stories, the conversion of Paul on the road to Damascus and the testing of Daniel's faith through his being cast into the den of lions.

Ll. 1–2: “on the road…christians”: Before his conversion, Saul was opposed to Christianity and did what he could to help eradicate it. He was chasing Jewish Christians who had fled to Damascus when he experienced his conversion. See Acts 9.

L. 8: “I Am Paul”: Paul was born into a Hellenistic Jewish family and given the Hebrew name Saul as well as the name Paul; he was a Roman citizen. Although his embrace of Christ's teachings and divinity did not in his own mind conflict with his Jewish faith, he is traditionally identified as Saul before the conversion and Paul after.

L. 13: “red black and green songs”: Especially during the 1960s, Black Nationalists began sporting these colors as a symbol of Blackness and Black solidarity. The origin of the colors, however, dates back to Marcus Garvey's United Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), which was founded in 1914 and promoted the unification of all African peoples throughout the Diaspora. The UNIA's flag was red, black, and green.

“For A Lady of Pleasure Now Retired”

L. 23: “louvenia smiled”: A reference to Giovanni's maternal grandmother, Emma Louvenia Watson (1898–1967).

“2nd Rapp”

L. 2: “rap”: H. Rap Brown, now Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin (1943–). See note to “Detroit Conference of Unity and Art,”. Rap Brown went underground in 1970, the year this poem was published, because he had been charged with violating the terms of his bail and two of his friends had been killed in a suspicious explosion. He was arrested in 1971 after being wounded by police, stood trial in 1972, and began serving a prison sentence in 1973.

“Poem For Unwed Mothers (to be sung to “The Old F.U. Spirit”)”

Giovanni was herself, of course, “an unwed mother,” which subjected her to far more criticism than a “single mother” would
receive today; she was, in fact, one of the first public figures who insisted on her right to control her life as she wished. She is certainly one of the women who changed the language we use to describe mothers who are unattached to their children's fathers.

“Ego Tripping (there may be a reason why)”

L. 12: “nefertiti”: Nefertiti was one of the most celebrated of the ancient Egyptians, despite the fact that relatively little is known about her. She was the wife of King Akhenaten (1353–1336 BC) and with him raised six daughters. When one of the daughters died, the parents' mourning was depicted in wall paintings. Nefertiti disappeared from the court after her daughter's death. Her name means “the beautiful woman has come.”

L. 24: “hannibal”: Hannibal (c. 247–c. 183 BC) was a Carthaginian general and the leader of the march across the Alps. He was a precocious child, reputed to have begun at the age of nine following his father on campaigns.

“A Poem/Because It Came As A Surprise To Me”

L. 2: “saul”: St. Paul. Paul was born into a Hellenistic Jewish family and given the Hebrew name Saul as well as the name Paul; he was a Roman citizen. Although his embrace of Christ's teachings and divinity did not in his own mind conflict with his Jewish faith, he is traditionally identified as Saul before the conversion and as Paul after.

“Oppression”

L. 4: “mme. walker”: Madame C. J. Walker (1867–1919), the first African American millionaire, made her fortune through hair-straightening and beauty products.

L. 7: “APA to GDI”: Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., a Black Greek fraternity originally founded at Cornell University, and “Goddamn Independent,” the slang term for students in historically Black colleges and universities who do not join a sorority or fraternity. Although Giovanni eventually became an honorary member of Delta Sigma Theta, Incorporated, she was a GDI as an undergraduate.

L. 9: “howard university”: The first African American sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha, was founded at Howard University in 1908. There is fierce if good-natured competition between the AKAs and the Deltas, of which Giovanni is an honorary member.

L. 13: “diana ross leaving the supremes”: Diana Ross (1944–) was the lead performer of the Supremes, Motown's biggest female group. In 1967 the Supremes were renamed Diana Ross and the Supremes by Barry Gordy, head of Motown; in 1970 Ross left the group for a solo career.

“Toy Poem”

L. 4: “loving rawls”: Lou Rawls (1935–), blues and rhythm and blues singer popular in the 1960s and 1970s.

L. 5: “st. jacques”: Raymond St. Jacques (1930–90) was a stage and film actor who supported himself with menial jobs between acting opportunities. His big break was in the off-Broadway production of Jean Genet's
The Blacks.
His film credits include
Black Like Me
(1964),
The Pawnbroker
(1965),
Cotton Comes to Harlem
(1970), and
Glory
(1989), in which he played Frederick Douglass but received no screen credit.

L. 22: “i wanna take you higher”: “I Want to Take You Higher” is the title of a song by Sly and the Family Stone.

“Poem For Flora”

Flora Alexander was a close friend of Giovanni's parents.

L. 6: “nebuchadnezzar”: Nebuchadnezzar is the common mis-spelling of Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon from 605 to 562
B.C.E
. He is credited with rebuilding Babylon—including the hanging gardens—as a wonder of the ancient world.

L. 9: “shadrach, meshach, and abednego”: In the Bible the three young friends of Daniel who were deported with him to Babylon by Nebuchadrezzar. They were cast into the fiery furnace, from which they emerged unscathed. See Daniel 3.

L. 15: “Sheba”: The unnamed (in the Bible) Queen of Sheba, ruler of the Sabeans, who were located in southwest Arabia, roughly where Yemen is today. She visited Solomon, the king of
Israel, and gave him many treasures. Tradition has it that she was African and that her relationship with Solomon resulted in a son who was the founder of the royal house of Ethiopia. See 1 Kings 10:1–13 and 2 Chronicles 9:1–12.

“Poem For My Nephew (Brother C. B. Soul)”

When he was young, Giovanni's nephew, Christopher Black, would sign his drawings “Brother C. B. Soul.”

“Yeah…But…”

L. 3: “diana”: Diana Ross (1944–), who had left the Supremes for a solo career in 1970, the year this poem was written.

L. 5: “dionne”: Dionne Warwick (1940–), pop singer whose string of hits from her collaboration with Burt Bacharach and Hal David earned her multiple Grammys.

L. 5: “making way for”: Most probably a reference to the album
Make Way for Dionne Warwick,
released in 1963.

L. 5: “just like me”: From a line in Warwick's enormously successful “(They Long to Be) Close to You,” which was included on
Make Way for Dionne Warwick
and recorded again for the 1972 album
Dionne.

“Poem For A Lady Whose Voice I Like”

This poem was originally written for the singer and actress Lena Horne (1917–).

My House (1972)

With the exception of two poems (“Just a New York Poem” and “We”), written in 1970, all the poems in
My House
were composed between January 1971 and June 1972. In an interview Giovanni said that when she came to write this book she knew she wanted to do something different; she would not write any more “revolutionary” poems.

Between the publication of
Re: Creation
in 1970 and
My
House
in 1972, Giovanni traveled abroad for the first time, both to Europe and, more significant, to Africa. While she was in Africa,
Truth Is on Its Way
was released (July 1971) and became quite unexpectedly a huge success. The award-winning album presented Giovanni reading her poetry to the background of gospel music performed by the New York Community Choir. In July 1972, before
My House
was published, Giovanni read many of its poems to an audience of almost 1,100 people at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall. Her audience had grown considerably, then, by the time
My House
was published, a fact that is reflected in its initial sales, which surpassed those of the earlier volumes.