Nikki Giovanni's Poetry

In Nikki Giovanni’s Poetry, I really enjoyed all three of these poems. The first one, “Nikki-Rosa,” is apparently a poem about herself and her childhood. But this poem brings up some very good points. Usually when people have hard lives, they usually complain and end up being bitter in life, but with this poem she is trying to show that overall her life was her life and to her it was a good one. This poem shows strength, hope, love and pride in being in the skin the good Lord gave you. This poem gave me a pleasing feeling and I was actually glad to read something positive and uplifting. It was a change compared to some of our readings this week.
Her poem of “I’m Not Lonely” seemed to a poem about a little girl trying to cover her fear of being left by a parent; probably her mother. She appears to trying to convince herself that she isn’t afraid and that she is old enough to be alone. There is also a recognition of previous bad dreams, but I think that when she states that she doesn’t have these bad dreams anymore, it’s really her way of saying they are no longer dreams, they are her reality.
The poem called “Poem for Black Boys” seems to be about what people perceive black boys should play in the way of games since they are black. However, she is using sarcasm to the fullest extent! She is stating that just because the boys are black, they must somehow just play the things that show ignorance since they are black, and games that teach them and enhance their life of crime and indecency. She is basically pointing at white people to show their ignorance about black people.
I was really impressed with her poems because they were easy to follow and they really just made sense. They left you with the feeling of knowing you just learned something about what a good decent person can experience in life through difficult times and end up surviving and succeeding in life.