Nikki Giovanni Quotes

if trees could talk
wonder what they'd say
met an old man
...told me "girl! my hands seen
more than all
them books...
at tuskeegee"
...met an old woman
..."sista" she called to me
"...my feet
seen more than yo eyes
ever gonna read"
...if trees would talk
wonder what they'd tell me

...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

if nature is true
we shall all lose our eyes
since we cannot even now distinguish
the good from the evil
...i've a mind to build
a new world
want to play

may i spin a poem around you
come let's step into my web
and dream of freedom together

how do you write a poem
about someone so close
...don't you already know
what i feel and if
you don't maybe
i should check my feelings

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

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

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

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

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

You have to read the poem and say, “My god, that’s a good poem,” and kind of smile at yourself. If you’re not willing to do that, then you’re wasting your time, and you’re hurting yourself in another way because you’re trying to please somebody who doesn’t like you. You don’t want to get in that position.

Poets shouldn't commit suicide. That would leave the world to those without imaginations or hearts. That would bequeath to the world a mangled syntax and no love of champagne. Poets must live in misery and ecstasy, to sing a song with the katydids. Poets should be ashamed to die before they kiss the sun.

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.