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Best Famous Nikki Giovanni Poems

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Love Is

Some people forget that love is
tucking you in and kissing you
"Good night"
no matter how young or old you are


Some people don't remember that
love is
listening and laughing and asking
questions
no matter what your age


Few recognize that love is
commitment, responsibility
no fun at all
unless


Love is
You and me

Written by Nikki Giovanni |

Choices

If i can't do
what i want to do
then my job is to not
do what i don't want
to do


It's not the same thing
but it's the best i can
do


If i can't have
what i want . . . then
my job is to want
what i've got
and be satisfied
that at least there
is something more to want


Since i can't go
where i need
to go . . . then i must . . . go
where the signs point
through always understanding
parallel movement
isn't lateral


When i can't express
what i really feel
i practice feeling
what i can express
and none of it is equal


I know
but that's why mankind
alone among the animals
learns to cry

Written by Nikki Giovanni |

You Came, Too

I came to the crowd seeking friends I came to the crowd seeking love I came to the crowd for understanding

I found you

I came to the crowd to weep I came to the crowd to laugh

You dried my tears You shared my happiness

I went from the crowd seeking you I went from the crowd seeking me I went from the crowd forever

You came, too

Written by Nikki Giovanni |

Life Cycles

Life Cycles
she realized  she wasn't one  of life's winners  when she wasn't sure  life to her was some dark  dirty secret that  like some unwanted child  too late for an abortion  was to be borne  alone    she had so many private habits  she would masturbate sometimes  she always picked her nose when upset  she liked to sit with silence  in the dark  sadness is not an unusual state  for the black woman  or writers    
she took to sneaking drinks  a habit which displeased her  both for its effects  and taste  yet eventually sleep  would wrestle her in triumph  onto the bed

Written by Nikki Giovanni |

Habits

i haven't written a poem in so long i may have forgotten how unless writing a poem is like riding a bike or swimming upstream or loving you it may be a habit that once aquired is never lost

but you say i'm foolish of course you love me but being loved of course is not the same as being loved because or being loved despite or being loved

if you love me why do i feel so lonely and why do i always wake up alone and why am i practicing not having you to love i never loved you that way

Written by Nikki Giovanni |

All I Gotta Do

all i gotta do is sit and wait sit and wait and it's gonna find me all i gotta do is sit and wait if i can learn how

what i need to do is sit and wait cause i'm a woman sit and wait what i gotta do is sit and wait cause i'm a woman it'll find me

you get yours and i'll get mine if i learn to sit and wait you got yours i want mine and i'm gonna get it cause i gotta get it cause i need to get it if i learn how

thought about calling for it on the phone asked for a delivery but they didn't have it thought about going to the store to get it walked to the corner but they didn't have it

called your name in my sleep sitting and waiting thought you would awake me called your name lying in my bed but you didn't have it offered to go get it but you didn't have it so i'm sitting

all i know is sitting and waiting waiting and sitting cause i'm a woman all i know is sitting and waiting cause i gotta wait wait for it to find me

Written by Nikki Giovanni |

When I Die

When I Die
when i die i hope no one who ever hurt me cries  and if they cry i hope their eyes fall out  and a million maggots that had made up their brains  crawl from the empty holes and devour the flesh  that covered the evil that passed itself off as a person  that i probably tried  to love

Written by Nikki Giovanni |

Winter Poem

Winter Poem
once a snowflake fell  on my brow and i loved  it so much and i kissed  it and it was happy and called its cousins  and brothers and a web  of snow engulfed me then  i reached to love them all  and i squeezed them and they became  a spring rain and i stood perfectly  still and was a flower

Written by Nikki Giovanni |

For Saundra

i wanted to write a poem that rhymes but revolution doesn't lend itself to be-bopping

then my neighbor who thinks i hate asked – do you ever write tree poems – i like trees so i thought i'll write a beautiful green tree poem peeked from my window to check the image noticed that the school yard was covered with asphalt no green – no trees grow in manhattan

then, well, i thought the sky i'll do a big blue sky poem but all the clouds have winged low since no-Dick was elected

so i thought again and it occurred to me maybe i shouldn't write at all but clean my gun and check my kerosene supply

perhaps these are not poetic times at all

Written by Nikki Giovanni |

Knoxville Tennessee

 I always like summer
Best
you can eat fresh corn
From daddy's garden
And okra
And greens
And cabbage
And lots of
Barbeque
And buttermilk
And homemade ice-cream
At the church picnic
And listen to
Gospel music
Outside
At the church
Homecoming
And go to the mountains with
Your grandmother
And go barefooted
And be warm
All the time
Not only when you go to bed
And sleep