Allison+Rogg+-+Nikki+Giovanni

Just a New York Poem //Nikki Giovanni//

i wanted to take your hand and run with you together toward ourselves down the street to your street i wanted to laugh aloud and skip the notes past the marquee advertising “women in love” past the record shop with “The Spirit In The Dark” past the smoke shop past the park and no parking today signs past the people watching me in my blue velvet and i don’t remember what you wore but only that i didn’t want anything to be wearing you i wanted to give myself to the cyclone that is your arms and let you in the eye of my hurricane and know the calm before

and some fall evening after the cocktails and the very expensive and very bad steak served with day-old baked potatoes after the second cup of coffee taken while listening to the rejected violin player maybe some fall evening when the taxis have passed you by and that light sort of rain that occasionally falls in new york begins you’ll take a thought and laugh aloud the notes carrying all the way over to me and we’ll run again together toward each other yes?

In //Just a New York Poem//, Nikki Giovanni effectively conveys a speaker reminiscing about the person she loved and her desire to once again, have a relationship with him.

Lines 1 thru 21 evoke a specific time and place, allowing Giovanni to define a specific moment that the speaker is looking back on. The memory is inconsistent; she is wearing her “blue velvet” (14) but she can’t remember what he wore, except that she had wished he wasn’t wearing anything at all. This creates a very sensual tone.

The specific details of New York allow the poem to be tied to a certain place. The speaker passes by “no parking today signs” (11-12) and wonders when the “taxies have passed you by” (30). The speaker attempts to coax an old lover into remembering a specific time when they were together and to remind him that they could be there again. New York City is so vast that the possibility of a chance encounter is slim, but the poem provides the details that create a very specific relationship to the metropolis. As she walks “down the street to [his] street”, she creates their own specific version of New York.

In lines 17-21, the only metaphorical moment, “I wanted to give myself to the cyclone that is your arms and let you in the eye of my hurricane and know the calm before the storm”, is both seductive and serves as a symbol for their past love.

After the line break between lines 21 and 22, the tense changes from actual past to imaginative past, setting a scene for an event that could have happened. The imagery of a man and woman finishing their steaks and potatoes and finishing their second cup of coffee creates a pervasive, lingering and somewhat evocative scene. The repetition of “very” in describing the cost and taste of the meal creates a lulling tone of a woman yearning for a person she once had.

In lines 34 and 35, the poem changes tenses again, this time from imaginative past to present when the speaker suddenly declares, “you’ll take a thought and laugh aloud”. This change in rhythm and tone is more abrupt, succinct and direct, calling the reader’s attention to the immediacy of this woman desperately wanting a past love to love her again. This change in tense and rhythm prepares the reader for the end when the speaker’s desires are distilled down to a final “yes?”. The final line of the poem pulls the reader back to present moment, as the protagonist opens herself up and seduces the object of her affection.

This poem is written in free verse; it refrains from consistent meter, is not highly structured and includes no end rhyme. It is written in the sort of vernacular, conversational and accessible language that Giovanni has been praised for. Nevertheless, the poem still has a rhythm and the assonance, or internal rhyme structure, adds to its evocative power.

I was especially drawn to this poem because I have a strong love for New York. This was also a poem that I loved more and more each time I read it. It wasn't until the 6th or 7th read that I felt as if I truly had a grasp on the meaning of the poem. It speaks to the somewhat too well-known feeling of longing for a past relationship.

I find this interview with Nikki Giovanni fascinating. It gave me a better understanding of Giovanni as person and how her life experiences have shaped her poetry. [].

The World is Not a Pleasant Place to Be //Nikki Giovanni//

the world is not a pleasant place to be without someone to hold and be held by

a river would stop its flow if only a stream were there to receive it

an ocean would never laugh if clouds weren't there to kiss her tears

the world is not a pleasant place to be without someone

“The World is not a Pleasant Place,” reflects a kind of rueful acceptance. Optimism is as scarce as capitalization.

In the first stanza, the speaker makes the point that “the world is not a pleasant place to be without someone” to experience it with. The line break in the second line highlights “without”, emphasizing that people should avoid being without someone. The diction is clear and easy to understand while the word choice is informal and accessible. The poem is written in free verse with no formal structure. However, a rhythm is established through distinct line breaks that create a simple and spare beat.

In stanzas two and three, the speaker uses geographic allusions to support her argument. In stanza two, the speaker compares a lovelorn individual to a river that flows because it lacks an alternative. In stanza three, the author compares her woeful state of loneliness to an ocean that would not exist if clouds didn’t rain; their relationship is inter-dependable and one would not thrive without the help of the other. The vastness of these metaphors gives heft to the speaker’s argument that human relationships are natural and necessary. The allusions created are relatable and available to any reader. The speaker effectively appeals to the reader’s emotions by playing with the concept of love. The connotation of “kiss” in line 10 suggests the emotional relationship that the speaker believes is necessary for human existence.

In stanza four, the speaker restates the argument that life is not meant to be experienced alone. The line break that isolates “someone” to a line by itself draws the reader’s attention to the fundamental focus – that the world is better when you experience it with //someone//. Stanza four resembles the beginning of stanza one, which further emphasizes the argument the speaker is making.

I feel as if the theme of this poem is relatable to all because we are all searching for another person to experience the rest of our lives with. On Youtube, someone created a video that matched the words of the poem with images corresponding images. I thought it was a very provoking and realistic take on this poem. []

//Nikki Giovanni//
 * Balances**

in life one is always balancing Like we juggle our mothers against our fathers or one teacher against another (only to balance our grade average) 3 grains of salt to one ounce truth our sweet black essence or the funky honkies down the street and lately i've begun wondering if you're trying to tell me something we used to talk all night and do things alone together and i've begun (as a reaction to a feeling) to balance the pleasure of loneliness against the pain of loving you

Giovanni uses a pure and honest tone to discuss the delicate equilibrium between competing forces in human beings’ lives. The poem’s title, Balances, evokes an image of someone juggling, trying to balance work and family and friends on a metaphorical scale. As Marist students, we often find it difficult to do the same, to find a balance between our classes and our sports and our clubs and our lives. The first stanza reinforces the idea established by the title. It bluntly notes that in life ‘one is always balancing’. The use of the indefinite pronoun, one, establishes a general and vague tone. The lack of capitalization and punctuation in the first stanza continues throughout the following stanzas, generating continuous thoughts, similar to streams of conscience. After the beginning stanza, the poem follows a similar pattern, with stanzas comprised of two lines for the following six stanzas, each providing specific examples of different balancing acts.

However, this pattern fades after line 11, when the focus switches to a specific interaction with someone the speaker loves.

After lines 1 through 3, the poem transitions from this general thesis to a supporting, almost metaphorical example, where the speaker notes that we must juggle our mothers against our fathers. While this stanza discusses our relationships with our parents, the following stanza expands the theme, noting that we must balance our relationships with our teachers to achieve the grades we want. This is familiar territory to any student; when we struggle with one class and receive a lower grade, we compensate with another. The next couplet references the common idiom, ‘take it all with a grain of salt’, meaning to accept something less than fully. ‘Three grains of salt’ combined with ‘one ounce truth’, describes the inevitable intermingling of fact with fiction and sometimes with outright falsehood.

The next couplet references balancing the essence of the speaker’s black culture and roots with the contrasting group of white people down the street. According to Urban Dictionary, “honkies” is urban slang for white people. This example speaks to a common question, how someone can retain their culture in a diverse environment.

At this point, the poem transitions from general examples of relationship balancing acts to the poet’s specific relationship with one person. Lines 12 and 13 communicate the poet’s own uncertainties about her relationship. Lines 14 and 15 follow a similar pattern, reminiscing about an earlier time in the relationship.

The next stanza is a single line that highlights the poet’s change in attitude, tipping the balance where she must make the ultimate choice of whether continuing the relationship is worth the pain she endures because of it. Unfortunately, she does not share her eventual choice.

This poem has no end rhyme but is marked by a rhythmic, lyrical sound created by specific word choice and placement of line breaks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESa4fVeNRd8
 * Audio Visual**: After analyzing this poem, I immediately thought of Sugarland's song, "There's gotta to be something more' that speaks to finding some balance between life and work, similar to this poem's theme of finding some balance between competing forces.

//Nikki Giovanni//
 * Woman**

she wanted to be a blade of grass amid the fields but he wouldn’t agree to be the dandelion

she wanted to be a robin singing through the leaves but he refused to be her tree

she spun herself into a web and looking for a place to rest turned to him but he stood straight declining to be her corner

she tried to be a book but he wouldn’t read

she turned herself into a bulb <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">but he wouldn’t let her grow

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">she decided to become <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">a woman <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">and though he still refused <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">to be a man <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">she decided it was all <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">right

Giovanni artfully creates this empowring piece, describing one woman's transformation from self-deprecation to self-acceptance. Stylistically, //Woman// is written from a third-person perspective, in contrast with the majority of Giovanni's poems. This change in perspective widens the space of whom this poem applies to; it is not the speaker's specific story, but could be any woman's story.

The title offers only a vague sense of the subject matter of the poem. However, I do begin to ponder the direction of this piece: what stance does Giovanni or, more specifically, the speaker, want to convey about women?

The first stanza presents the conflict of the poem: a woman's desire to be an equal to her partner is thwarted when he won't agree to go along. This is told in metaphorical terms, as the woman wants to be a 'blade of grass' but 'he wouldn't agree to be the dandelion'. The connotation of 'blade' creates this image of a strong, powerful woman. The 'but' is used as the transition from the woman's wants to the man's opposing wishes. The theme of nature, present in this stanza, continues throughout. Nature creates this peaceful, calm and serene image but all the idea of growth, something the woman is yearning for.

The second stanza presents the conflict again, this time by paralleling the woman 'want[ing] to be a robing singing' to the man 'refusing to be her tree'. The connotation of 'singing' creates this joyful sound, and also represents a woman who wants to speak up and let her voice be heard. I wonder exactly what type of relationship the woman is looking for though - when she wants to be a bird that perches on his branches, does she want to outshine him?

The third, fourth and fifth stanzas follow similar patterns: she weaves herself into a web but her refused to be her corner, she tries to be a book but he won't read her and she becomes a bulb but he won't let her grow. However, the line break between stanzas 5 and 5 serves as the transition between the different personas the woman tries to assume before finally deciding to be herself. The line break between lines 22 and 23 draws attention to the fnal line, emphasizing the woman's eventual willingness to embrace who she is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jC5l_PXFmSc
 * Audio Visual**: This video creates a photo montage of a narrator reading 'Woman' while beautiful photos play in the background. It's pretty neat and aided in my understanding of the poem.