When I Die

In the poem “When I Die”, Nikki Giovanni reflects on the heartache she’s experienced during her lifetime. The title “When I Die” gives the reader an idea of what the poem will be about before reading. I believe when Giovanni was writing this poem there wasn’t anything specific she wanted to talk, given that it the idea of this poem speaks on her entire life.  One can assume that the speaker would be Nikki Giovanni, and mainly because she uses “I” and personal parts of her life to convey the message of this poem. It seems as if her audience would be the people who have hurt her the most. She wanted revenge from those individuals who showed any sympathy after her death. This is shown in the first stanza where she says “when I die I hope no one whoever hurt m cries and if they cry I hope their eyes fall out”. Being realistic, it is nearly impossible for an individual’s eye to fall out but this only embrace the poet’s sardonic tone throughout the poem.  She wanted them to experience the pain and trouble they gave her while she was living. Going into the second stanza, Giovanni talks about her death being recognized by important individuals of the government.  This was shown through her idea of giving everyone a day off of work in order to attend her celebration. One can assume Nikki Giovanni valued her life and believed she was very important to the world. Closing the poem Giovanni, addressed the “haters” per say.  She knew there were people who gossiped about her , but she rather keep it that way. She notes “please don’t let them read “Nikki Rosa” maybe just let some black woman who called herself my friend go around and collect”. From this line the reader can assume Nikki Giovanni has had some conflicts with females who called themselves her friend but ended up stabbing her in the back. The message the poet tried to convey in this poem was too, encourage the reader to do something they love very well and enjoy , the people who stab you in the back shouldn’t affect the life you plan to live.  

Mothers

In the poem “Mothers" the speaker talks about her unchanging relationship with her mother.  She incorporates her mother’s struggle although it isn’t vaguely shown. The tone/attitude of this poem is very gloomy and sad.  This poem was basically a flashback of her mother and things she experienced. There were a lot of personal examples and occurrences that were revealed. The speaker uses words like ‘dark’ and ‘night’ to describe the atmosphere. I believe the thematic statement in this poem would be “You have to experience pain before you endure the pleasure”. The common motif in this poem would be remembrance. The word ‘remember was very prevalent throughout the poem. This shows the importance of remembering things and reflecting on the importance of them.  Nikki Giovanni also includes her present life in the end of her poem. She teaches her son something her mother taught her when she was kid. However , the reader could assume that this poem had some significance along with it. Her son learned the poem and recited it to her mother, to convey a message. The message that she was taught was now being passed down to her son. The importance of this poem was to inform as well as highlight the result of struggles and they are set in stone to tell a story.

Ego Tripping

In the poem “Ego Tripping” Nikki Giovanni’s personality was greatly shown.  The title of this poem definitely explains the importance of this poem. In each stanza she would compare herself to people who held a large amount of power.  This incorporates how she would be considered “Tripping”, based upon the confidence she held in this poem. There was a lot of imagery present in this poem because she explains every detail of her examples.  However there was one example that stood out the most to me. “In the poem Nikki Giovanni says “My son Noah built new/ark and I stood proudly at the helm”. This line shows her idea of being God.  This was very unusual give that God is very powerful and could never be copied. This shows the speakers large ego, when she compares herself to people who could never be replaced. The structure of this poem is the total opposite from the previous poems. They show a sense of confidence and knowledge and uses capital letters throughout the whole poem. This could reflect the speaker’s mood, while she was writing this poem. The tone/attitude of this poem would a condescending, the act of feeling superior. When it comes to having a big EGO, we tend to believe we should uphold a superior attitude that doesn’t really reflect who we truly are.

Kidnap Poem

In the poem “Kidnap poem”, I could tell it was spoken from the heart. The word ‘kidnap’ gave away the idea of this poem. To be captured by the author and her words was the goal of the speaker, which reflected the title. There were a lot of words that were used to show the image of relaxation. Words like ‘island’ and ‘beach’ gave off the idea of relaxing. The speaker wanted the reader to understand her thoughts and feelings on things when she writes poetry. The structure of this poem doesn’t explain her mood or what’s going on. However, it is similar to the previous poem where she doesn’t use capitals letters and make the poem all in one stanza. Although we’ve only read two poems from this particular book, I am starting to assume that the lower case letters through out the poem symbolize something Nikki Giovanni was experiencing. Towards the end she says “anything to win you wrap you in the red Black green”. I noticed that the color black stood out from the other two colors that were mentioned. The B is capitalizing unlike the other letters. In my opinion this could mean something, but it’s hard analyze what exactly she means. One can assume that the color black was something she value, which could possibly relate back the African American Society.

 

No Reservations

In the poem “No Reservations” the author wasn’t clear as to who the speaker could be. However, she used “I” once throughout the entire poem, and the reader could possibly assume that Nikki Giovanni is the speaker. The important motif in this poem would be the rules of war. She uses words like ‘revolution’, ‘battlefield’, ‘fire , ‘run’ and ‘shoot’ to feed off the main idea of the poem. Reservation is the act of reserving; keeping back or withholding. The tile of the poem is “No Reservation” and this could mean no holding back or reserving for war or rebellion. Nikki Giovanni begins the poem off with “ there are no reservations for the revolution” , which means there is no reserving for this rebellion .The structure of this poem is a little unusual , however I’ve read a poem by Nikki Giovanni with a similar structure. Previously, I assumed that if a poem is written only in lower case letters she’s writing the poem in a sense of urgency.  Capitalizing the letter “I” is obvious, but she keeps it lower case in this poem. The tone/attitude of this poem appears to give off a fed up or tired attitude. It seems as if the speaker is tired of watching individuals not being proactive within the revolution, because they aren’t given any motivation/signs to encourage them to fight back. Nikki Giovanni ends the poem off by saying “there will be reservations only if we fail”. This line explains how if the African American community fails at their rebellion they would be forced to holdback and wouldn’t have the ability to modify their rights within society.

 

Records

“Records”

In the poem “Records” the speaker is Nikki Giovanni because she speaks from first person point of view. She uses the letter “I” a lot in this poem , which can also show that she was the speaker of this poem. The idea of the poem was created too remember and record specific events during Nikki Giovanni’s lifetime. However, the structure of the poem also conveys a message without using words. Given that, the Poem was written in one stanza one can assume that this poem is written in a since of urgency and while trying to remember important events. Unlike the other poems Nikki Giovanni doesn’t use capital letters. It seems as if she was just trying to get the writing of the poem over with.  This poem seems to highlight Nikki Giovanni’s thoughts that she has to get out in order for others to understand her struggle.  The tone/attitude of this poem seems to be sad and explains the speaker’s experiences in the midst of events that are occurring during the civil rights movement. She uses a lot of words that relates to death or things being destroyed. I believe she wanted us to understand that it is important for us to destroy society’s stereotypes in order for people to live a peaceful and free life.

" The Great Pax White"

“The Great Pax Whitie”

 In the poem “The Great Pax Whitie” Nikki Giovanni incorporates motifs pertaining to racism, religion and war.  This poem is a little more complex compared to the previous poems I’ve read. I started analyzing this poem by defining the key words in the title.  The first definition I got from the word Pax’ means a stable period under powerful empire. Given that, this time was during the civil rights movement the reader can assume during this time the African American community was under a powerful empire. The speaker speaks about different topics that are relevant to her life during this time. She incorporates some individuals from the bible and talks about the Catholic Church. This could possibly show controversy amongst the religious community. I believe this poem is written to explain how the individuals are under a powerful empire and they're struggling to get out of the situation. However this poem also shows how people can be judgmental. The speaker says “Noah packing his wife and kiddies up for a holiday row row row your boat but why’d you leave the unicorns, Noah huh? Why’d you leave them”?  In the bible Noah was known for his art that carried several animals.  The unicorn is a similar to an animal that isn’t consider real, but the speaker questioned that idea. She asked, why you would leave them”, however if they were considered animals they would’ve been on Noah’s Art.  This poem seems to contradict everything society is trying to convey. I believe this makes the poem a little more complex than what it really is.