The Collected Poetry of Nikki Giovanni by Nikki Giovanni

under my blouse
    and i felt me feeling a feeling
    she crossed her legs at the ankle
    and straightened her back
    â€œtell you this” she said
    â€œkeep yo dress up and yo pants down and you’ll be all right”
    and i said impatiently “old lady you got it all wrong”
    â€œhoney, ain’t never been wrong yet
    you better get back to the city cause you one of them
    technical niggers and you’ll have problems here”

Rituals
    i always wanted to be a bridesmaid
    honest to god
    i could just see me floating
    down that holy aisle leading
    some dear friend to heaven
    in pink and purple organza with lots and lots
    of crinoline pushing the violets out from my dress
    hem
    or maybe in a more sophisticated endeavor
    one of those lovely sky blue slinky numbers
    fitting tight around my abounding twenty-eights
    holding a single red rose white gloves open in the back
    always forever made of nylon and my feet nestled gently
    in chandlers number 699 which was also the price plus
    one dollar to match it pretty near the dress color
    wedding rituals have always intrigued me
    and i’d swear to friends i wouldn’t say goddamn not even
    once no matter what neither would i give a power
    sign but would even comb my hair severely
    back and put that blue shit under my eyes
    i swear i wanted to be in a wedding

Poem for Stacia
    i see wonder
    in little things
    like thorn figurines rowing
    across my table
    or stacia caring
    by imposing which being
    such a little thing wasn’t
    a big imposition
    and i saw a rainbow
    after a very cloudy day
    but i looked down to swat
    a mosquito and lost
    it in the midst

The World Is Not a Pleasant Place to Be
    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 Only Song I’m Singing
    they tell me that i’m beautiful i know
    i’m Black and proud
    the people ask for autographs
    i sometimes draw a crowd
    i’ve written lots of poetry and other
    kinds of books
    i’ve heard that white men crumble
    from one of my mean looks
    i study hard and know my facts
    in fact the truth is true
    the only song i’m singing now is my song
    of you
    and i’m asking you baby please
    please somehow show me what i need
    to know so i can love you right
    now
    i’ve had great opportunities to move
    the world around
    whenever they need love and truth they call
    me to their town
    the president he called me up and asked
    me to come down
    but if you think you want me home i think
    i’ll stick around
    and i’m asking you baby please baby baby show me
    right now most of the things i need to know
    so i can love you somehow

The Butterfly
    those things
    which you so laughingly call
    hands are in fact two
    brown butterflies fluttering
    across the pleasure
    they give
    my body

I Remember
    i remember learning you jump
    in your sleep and smile
    when you wake up
    at first you cuddle
    then one arm across my stomach
    then one leg touching my leg then
    you turn your back
    but you smile when you wake up
    i was surprised to know you don’t care
    if your amp burns all night and that you could
    play ohmeohmy over and over again just
    because you remembered
    i discovered you don’t like hair
    in your bathroom sink and never step
    your wet feet onto a clean rug
    you will answer your phone
    but you don’t talk too long and you do
    rub my toes and make faces
    while you talk
    and your voice told her anyway
    that i was there
    you can get up at three and make sandwiches
    and orange juice and tell jokes
    you sometimes make incoherent sentences
    you snore
    and you smile when you wake up
    i know you cry when you’re hurt
    and curse when you’re angry
    and try when you don’t feel
    like it and smile at me
    when you wake up
    these things