“Nikki Giovanni’s work has always been remarkable for energy, venturesomeness, direct honesty, and courage.” - Gwendolyn Brooks
“Giovanni remains an architect of life observtions. . . . The world is a richer place for her three-decade body of work.” - Miami Herald
A collection of eighty all new poems, Acolytes is distinctly Nikki Giovanni, but different. Not softened, but more inspired by love, celebration, memories and even nostalgia. She aims her intimate and sparing words at family and friends, the deaths of heroes and friends, favorite meals and candy, nature, libraries, and theatre. But in between, the deep and edgy conscience that has defined her for decades shines through when she writes about Rosa Parks, hurricane Katrina, and Emmett Till's disappearance, leaving no doubt that Nikki has not traded one approach for another, but simply made room for both.
About the Author
Nikki Giovanni (1943–2024), poet, activist, mother, grandmother, and educator, grew up in Tennessee and Ohio and graduated with honors from Fisk University in Nashville. The author of over thirty books, she was also the recipient of seven NAACP Image Awards, the Langston Hughes Medal for Outstanding Poetry, the Frost Medal, as well as thirty-one honorary degrees and an Emmy Award. She garnered her most unusual honor in 2007 when a South American bat species—Micronycteris giovanniae—was named in celebration of her. A devoted teacher and honorary member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., she spent thirty-five years as University Distinguished Professor of English at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Acolytes
PoemsBy Nikki Giovanni
HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.
Copyright © 2007 Nikki Giovanni
All right reserved.
ISBN: 9780061231315
How You Gonna Save 'Em? 1st Stanza
It's hard to save 'em
If they won't learn how to pray
Give 'em the blues
And make 'em weep all day
We Gather
An invocation for the underground railroad
We are gathered to fulfill a covenant . . . a vow made in cadence to the tramping feet carrying the weary . . . scarred . . . branded bodies harvested for the unspeakably vicious trade in slave labor
We are gathered because a sacred vow was made as these people . . . chained head to toe head to toe head to toe . . . with no room to turn . . . no privacy of body or soul . . . bereft of the comfort their Gods and languages could bring . . . allowed a curiosity . . . a wonder . . . a sense of newness . . . to give them the courage . . . to survive . . . to thrive . . . to find a new world
We are gathered in awe of the people who stood on the auction block . . . bent under the master or the lash . . . clearing land they could not claim . . . growing crops they could not share . . . birthing children they could only love in mem-ory . . . being shamed by powerlessness
We recognize it was never their shame
We gather in celebration of those who utilized the Underground Railroad . . . those who rode it and those who helped others get onboard
We flow bitter tears for those whose freedom was found at the end of a rope
We come to this moment having achieved neither restoration nor reparation but we come . . . we gather together with friends of freedom to commemorate the courageous men and women who have sacrificed their all for the uplifting of humankind . . . we find in this moment the same moon reflecting the same brilliant sun . . . the same stars dancing among the same night skies
We gather because three hundred and eighty- four years ago the "Cargo" that stepped off a Dutch Man-of-War . . . being exchanged for food and water . . . recognizing this was not a good situation which would get better anytime soon . . . still decided to live . . . and fight their battle with a glorious song . . . raised to a new God . . . in a strange land
We gather because it is the right thing to do . . . and it is to that . . . that we say . . . Amen
Continues...
Excerpted from Acolytesby Nikki Giovanni Copyright © 2007 by Nikki Giovanni. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Wow! eBook
