You can look at your own work and say to yourself, “I did a good job.” And then you let it go, because anything else is going to make you crazy, and anything else, you’re going to be trying to impress people who don’t even like you. That’s the truth! You have to be very careful of letting people who not only don’t know you, but don’t understand you, don’t like you… you can’t let those people determine who you are.~Nikki Giovanni
And Know That I Love You guys. You all make me feel loved. Thank you for everything. I know I don’t say it right sometimes…. So I’ll let a true poet say it for me on the day after her birthday.
Yolande Cornelia “Nikki” Giovanni, Jr. (born June 7, 1943) is an American poet, writer, commentator, activist, and educator. One of the world’s most well-known African-American poets, her work includes poetry anthologies, poetry recordings, and nonfiction essays, and covers topics ranging from race and social issues to children’s literature. She has won numerous awards, including the Langston Hughes Medal, the NAACP Image Award. She has been nominated for a Grammy Award, for her album The Nikki Giovanni Poetry Collection.
This poem makes me thing of your guys….
You Came, Too by Nikki Giovanni
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
Piqued my interest. I spent the weekend focusing (trying to) on creative types of activities. I enjoy writing, as well as reading, but poetry I think I have avoided. I just realized this. Thank you for this inspiration. I appreciate it.
and…THANK YOU!…I appreciate you.
Love her and this. Thank you.
Marched last week.Peaceful gathering of thousands. So the “old biddies” in the community tsking and chuffing and making dire predictions about violence and boarded windows and pallets of bricks can cluck off to their collective henyards because we SAW each other. And it was good.
Thank you Tamara, for turning me on to this very cool lady.
Happy Birthday, , Nikki! ???
You just never know what you will find here.
Happy Belated Birthday Nikki!
Thanks Tamara for reminding us about her…
Thank you!!!
Happy Belated Birthday Nikki!
Thank you for Legacies
New York Mayor Ed Koch gave a relation of mine a tour of New York.
She asked to see the memorial for the American poet with the soul of an Irishman….They went to East 127th Street.
Thank for sharing her poetry, this one is wonderful. Hugs to you friend.
I wanted to add something that will make all of us feel better…go to YouTube and search for Fayetteville, NC police take a knee to protesters (or something like that.) It happened about a week ago. Being a NC resident, and living in the South for a long time, I was very happy to see this. I am a Northerner by birth but moved South after college- first Atlanta, then to NC. I have seen other videos and articles about police taking a knee, but so hoped to see something from the south, and in a smaller southern city. I am hopeful.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7WqQnhwRs0- this should be the video. (Sorry I don’t know how to make this active).
Take care all and be safe!
Oh it is active. Good!
One of the first poets I ever read.
Strong and powerful words.
I have to admit, I never knew of Nikki.
Thank you!
I saw Nikki Giovanni speak once while I was in grad school. I remember her talking about her family having a piano when they didn’t have indoor plumbing and others not understanding their priorities…