Nikki Giovanni Quotes

If I were advising someone on a writing career, the deal is this: write. If you get it published, good. If somebody pays you, better, because you have to eat, but the deal is you have to write.

Poetry is the culture of a people. We are poets even when we don’t write poems; just look at our life, our rhythms, our tenderness, our signifying, our sermons and our songs.

they say you should fight the cold with the cold
but since i never do anything right
i called you

if it does not sing discard the ear
for poetry is song
if it does not delight discard
the heart for poetry is joy
if it does not inform then close
off the brain for it is dead
if it cannot heed the insistent message
that life is preciouswhich is all we poets
wrapped in our loneliness
are trying to say

We need food for the Soul We need poetry ... We deserve poetry

it is not unusual
that the old bury the young though it is an abomination
...those who make war
call themselves diplomats
...the unfaithful pray loudest
...we judge a man by his dreams
not alone his deeds
...by his intent
not alone his shortcomings
...it is not unusual
to know him through those who love him

...i believe
the most beautiful poem
...is your heart
racing

I'm a big fan of the black woman and so I'm always looking at aspects of the black woman--what she's doing and how she does it.

then I awoke and dug
that if i dreamed natural
dreams of being a natural
woman doing what a woman
does...
i would have a revolution

...how else
to spend
a rainy day
other than with you
seeking sun and stars
and heavenly bodies

...do you ever stop
to think what it looked like
before it was an avenue
...ever look south
...and see gazelles running playfully
after the lions
...did you ever, sit down
and wonder about what freedom's freedom
would bring
...the , Alonquin
and ... could caress
the earthever think what Harlem would be
like if our herbs and roots and elephant ears
grew...
the parrot parroting ...ever think it's possible
for us to be
happy

There is a game I must tell you of
It's called Catch the Leader Lying
(and knowing your sense of the absurd
you will enjoy this)
...
You must invent your own games and teach us old
ones how to play

i hope my shoulder finds a head that needs nestling
...i hope i die
warmed
by the life that i tried
to live

...i sit waiting
for a fresh thought
to stir the atmosphere