Notes to the Poems

Black Feeling Black Talk

Black Feeling Black Talk was privately printed in 1968 and distributed by Giovanni herself. Because she feared rejection, as she stated in an interview published in Ingenue in February 1973, Giovanni did not submit the collection to a publisher; instead, with money borrowed from family and friends, she had it printed and distributed it herself: “I decided to take my poetry to the people, and if they rejected it, that would be that.” In fact, some 2,000 copies of this volume were sold during its first year, an extraordinary figure for a privately printed and privately distributed book of poetry.

“Detroit Conference of Unity and Art (For HRB)”

The Detroit Conference of Unity and Art was held in late May 1967.

HRB:H. Rap Brown, now Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin (1943–). Civil Rights activist who became the chairman of SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) after Stokely Carmichael left to join the Black Panthers. Al-Amin was recently convicted of killing a Fulton County (Georgia) sheriff’s deputy and sentenced to life in prison. Giovanni considers the charges absurd. See the title poem of Quilting the Black-Eyed Pea.

L. 15: “Malcolm”: Malcolm X, later Al Hajj Malik Al-Shabazz (1925–65).

“On Hearing ‘The Girl with the Flaxen Hair’”

“The Girl with the Flaxen Hair” (La Fille aux cheveux de lin) is a piano composition by Claude Debussy (1862–1918), published in 1910 in Book 1 of his Préludes.

This is a very early poem, dating to 1965; the second or third poem Giovanni wrote, it was rejected by The Atlantic Monthly.

“Poem (For TW)”

TW: Thelma Watson, Giovanni’s French teacher at Fisk University. The teacher and her student often speculated about the possibility that they were kinswomen because Ms. Watson had the same family name as Giovanni’s maternal grandparents.

“Poem (For BMC No. 1)”

BMC: Blanche McConnell Cowan was the dean of women at Fisk University when Giovanni returned there in 1964. Cowan purged the file on Giovanni that had been generated by the former dean, Ann Cheatam, and became an important friend and mentor both during Giovanni’s years at Fisk and after. Cowan died in 1986.

L. 6: “no sun from Venice”: No Sun in Venice is a 1957 album released by the Modern Jazz Quartet.

L. 7: “green cricket with a pink umbrella”: Blanche Cowan was a member of the African American sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha, whose colors are green and pink.

“Our Detroit Conference (For Don L. Lee)”

Don L. Lee, now Haki R. Madhabuti (1942–), is a Chicago poet and founder of Third World Press who was an important leader in the Black Arts movement. Giovanni met him at the Detroit Conference of Unity and Art in May 1967.

L. 2: “Digest”: The Negro Digest, which was relaunched in the 1960s by Johnson Publications. Under the editorship of Hoyt Fuller (1923–81), Negro Digest (renamed Black World in 1970) played a central role in helping shape the Black Arts movement. Both Giovanni and Lee were regular contributors.

“Poem (For Dudley Randall)”

Dudley Randall (1914–2000) was a poet and the founder of Broadside Press (1963), which published the work of many young poets of the Black Arts movement. Broadside distributed Giovanni’s Black Judgement and published her Re: Creation.

“Poem (For BMC No. 2)”

BMC: Blanche McConnell Cowan; see note to “Poem (For BMC No. 1).”

L. 7: “barefoot boy”: An allusion to “Barefoot Boy with Cheeks of Tan” by John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–92).

L. 8: “John Henry”: John Henry was born a slave in the 1840s or 1850s. The legend that grew up around his work as a steel driver for the railroads during Reconstruction is expressed in the many versions of the song “John Henry, Steel Driving Man.”

L. 9: “camel with a cold nose”: A reference to the folk story about a man whose camel begged to be allowed to stick just his cold nose in the tent at night; the next morning, of course, the entire camel was in the tent and the man was outside in the cold.

“Personae Poem (For Sylvia Henderson)”

Sylvia Henderson: In the summer of 1967, Giovanni organized Cincinnati’s first Black Arts Festival, held in the West End, where she did volunteer social work. As a part of the festival, she adapted Virginia Hamilton’s novel Zeely to the stage. Sylvia Henderson had the title role in the play, directed by Giovanni and performed at a synagogue in Avondale, a Cincinnati neighborhood. Giovanni selected the West End as the location for the three-day festival because she volunteered there, her mother was a social worker there, and her father had grown up and was widely respected there; Giovanni knew, in other words, that she could get widespread participation and support in the West End, at that time a neighborhood of project housing. The conservative director of the neighborhood YWCA was unwilling to let Giovanni and her colleagues use the Y’s stage for the production. Many of the people with whom Giovanni worked also worked for or with a social work agency in Avondale called Seven Hills, and one of them offered the use of the synagogue’s stage.

“Poem (For PCH)”

PCH: Perri Harper. The response to the Black Arts Festival and to Giovanni’s production of Zeely (see preceding note) was overwhelmingly positive. The success of the play demonstrated the potential for an ongoing black theater in Cincinnati. Giovanni suggested to Charles Sells, the director of Seven Hills (see preceding note), that he hire a director for the theater group she had organized. He agreed to do so if she could find someone. She contacted John Oliver Killens, with whom she had studied at Fisk, and he eventually recommended Perri Harper. Harper had worked for a number of years with small theaters in Greenwich Village, where she lived with the jazz pianist Bill Evans. Possibly because of problems in her relationship with Evans, Harper accepted the position in Cincinnati. Charles Holman, another social worker involved in the theater group, helped win grant money and donations, and Harper directed a series of plays; within three or four years, this group was incorporated into the Cincinnati Playhouse, which had previously had an all-white board of directors, all white actors, and all-white play selections.

Ll. 7 ff.: Perhaps an allusion to the fact that Harper, who had been hired through Giovanni’s efforts, later refused to provide a letter of recommendation for her application to graduate school.

“Poem (For BMC No. 3)”

BMC: Blanche McConnell Cowan; see note to “Poem (For BMC No. 1),”.

“A Historical Footnote to Consider Only When All Else Fails (For Barbara Crosby)”

Barbara Crosby: Several years older than Giovanni, Crosby was originally a friend of Gary Giovanni, the poet’s sister. Crosby graduated from Cincinnati’s prestigious Walnut Hills High School and Fisk University. She was active in the Civil Rights movement and was a member of SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee). As a participant in the International Village Movement, she had also spent a good deal of time in Europe. She was a social worker with Seven Hills (see note to “Personae Poem,”, and she and Giovanni shared an apartment in Cincinnati during the summer of 1967.

“The True Import of Present Dialogue, Black vs. Negro (For Peppe, Who Will Ultimately Judge Our Efforts)”

“Black vs. Negro”: Naming has always had enormous importance to Black Americans because of its connection to identity and power. Africans brought to this country and sold into slavery were stripped of their names and forced to take the names given them by their new masters. In the 1960s special attention was focused on this issue. Those involved in the Black Power and Black Arts movements drew significant distinctions between the terms “Negro,” “nigger,” and “Black.” Sarah Webster Fabio wrote a definitive essay on this topic for Negro Digest, in which she offered the following analysis:

Scratch a Negro and you will find a nigger and a potential black man; scratch a black man and you may find a nigger and the remnants of a Negro. Negro is a psychological, sociological, and economical fabrication to justify the status quo in America. Nigger is the tension created by a black man’s attempt to accommodate himself to become a Negro in order to survive in a racist country. Black is the selfhood and soul of anyone with one drop of black blood, in America, who does not deny himself.

The black community has always known—and it is becoming apparent to the world—that America wants Negroes and niggers but not black people.

James Baldwin makes reference to the observation that “the Negro-in-America is a form of insanity which overtakes white men.” The Negro is a pathology: Baldwin has also said that there is “no Negro, finally, who has not had to make his own precarious adjustment to the ‘nigger’ who surrounds him and to the ‘nigger’ in himself.” Being black, then, is a reaffirmation of selfhood; it is a meaningful antidote to white racism; it is a move toward deniggerizing the world population of non-white people and of humanizing the white people. (“Who Speaks Negro? What Is Black?” Negro Digest, Sept.–Oct. 1968.)

Peppe: Family nickname for Giovanni’s nephew, Christopher Black (1959–).

L. 2: “Can you kill”: Giovanni stated that she wrote this poem because “it bugged me to always hear talk of going out to die for our rights…. That’s not the hardest thing to do. It’s harder to goout and kill for your rights. I wrote the poem as a protest against that attitude” (Peter Bailey, “Nikki Giovanni: ‘I Am Black, Female, Polite…’” Ebony, February 1972, p. 50).

“A Short Essay of Affirmation Explaining Why (With Apologies to the Federal Bureau of Investigation)”

This poem was written in July 1967, when Giovanni was living in Cincinnati. Often referred to as a “hot summer,” the summer of 1967 witnessed race riots and racial disturbances across the country. The most serious occurred in Newark, New Jersey, and Detroit, Michigan, but there were outbreaks in dozens of other cities, including Cincinnati. Giovanni shared an apartment with Barbara Crosby (see note to “A Historical Footnote,”, who was as well-known to left-wingers in Cincinnati as Giovanni was to Black nationalists; as a consequence, their telephone was wiretapped. Giovanni herself was at her parents’ home in Lincoln Heights when the riot broke out in Cincinnati.

L. 1: “Honkies”: white people.

L. 48: “Miss Hoover”: A reference to the then director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, J. Edgar Hoover (1895–1972), whose abuse of his powers, especially in matters regarding Black people, has been widely documented.

“Poem (No Name No. 3)”

L. 3: “Anne Frank”: Anne Frank (1929–45) gained international attention when her diaries were published after her death. Between 1942 and 1944, during World War II, when Jews were being rounded up and sent to “work camps,” Anne Frank and her family hid in a secret annex of the building housing her father’s business in Amsterdam. Anne wrote in her diary during these two years. In 1944 the family was arrested and deported; Anne eventually was sent to Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where she died the following year.

L. 11: “Malcolm”: Malcolm X, later Al Hajj Malik Al-Shabazz (1925–65).

L. 12: “LeRoi”: LeRoi Jones, now Amiri Baraka (1934–), poet, playwright, and social activist. He was arrested during the 1967 Newark riots and charged with illegal possession of weapons and resisting arrest. Although he was later convicted and sentenced to a three-year jail term, the conviction was reversed on appeal.

L. 13: “Rap”: H. Rap Brown (1943–), now Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin. “Strapped a harness” probably refers to the fact that Brown was on probation and thereby rendered relatively powerless. See note to “Detroit Conference of Unity and Art,”.

L. 14: “Stokely’s teeth”: Stokely Carmichael, later Kwame Ture (1941–1998). Carmichael became the chairperson of SNCC (the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) in May 1966 and took the organization in a more radical direction just a month later, when he announced the advent of Black Power. In 1967 he left SNCC to join the Black Panther Party. Giovanni’s figure (a toothless panther) suggests that Carmichael has been made harmless.

“Wilmington Delaware”

When Giovanni entered the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Social Work, she lived in Wilmington, where housing was cheaper than in Philadelphia. Part of her graduate study entailed working at the People’s Settlement House in Wilmington, where she continued even after she had dropped out of graduate school. This poem, written during the eight or nine months she lived in Wilmington, is a scathing satire on both the city and its personification, the man who directed the People’s Settlement.

L. 16: “Due-pontee”: A reference to the du Pont family, whose money helped fund the settlements and much else in the state of Delaware. Founded in 1802 as an explosives company, Du Pont subsequently focused on chemicals and energy, and it is the corporation behind well-known brands such as Teflon, Lycra, and Dacron. Today it is ranked the seventieth largest U.S. industrial-service corporation, with revenues in 2002 of $24 billion.

L. 26: “nourishment at the ‘Y’”: When Giovanni lived in Wilmington, the YMCA was a networking hub for Black businessmen and professionals. The double entendre, like the many orthographic jokes, marks the poem as a youthful composition.

L. 30: “East side of town”: In the late 1960s the east side of Wilmington, which had originally been populated by white people, had become predominantly Black; the same was true of the People’s Settlement and Christiana Settlement Houses, which were both on the east side.

Ll. 42–43: “party more…Asphalt is bad”: Possibly a reference to the marches and demonstrations which were used by those in both the Civil Rights and the Black Power movements but which would have been anathema to someone like Wilmington, whose dancing is still a “shuffle,” regardless of its “militancy.”

Ll. 56–57: “replaced jello…jellied gas (a Due-pontee specialty; housewise)”: A reference to napalm, a jellied gas produced by the Du Pont Corporation and used extensively in the Vietnam War.

“Letter to a Bourgeois Friend Whom Once I Loved (And Maybe Still Do If Love Is Valid)”

Written in July 1967.

L. 12: “Johnson”: Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–73), thirty-sixth President of the United States (1963–69).

L. 13: “Detroit”: The summer of 1967 was witness to race riots all over the United States. One of the worst started in Detroit on July 22 and lasted for several days. President Johnson ordered 4,700 federal troops into Detroit. In all some forty-three people were killed, thirty-three of them Black (see Charles M. Christian, Black Saga: The African American Experience, 1995).

L. 18: “Rap”: H. Rap Brown, now Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin (1943–). See note to “Detroit Conference of Unity and Art,”.

“Love Poem (For Real)”

Ll. 10–11: “go back/to half”: The poem was written in December 1968, just weeks before Richard M. Nixon (1913–94) was inaugurated the thirty-seventh President of the United States (1969–74). Nineteen sixty-eight was a devastating year in American history—both Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert F. Kennedy were assassinated, in April and June, respectively.

L. 13: “johnson”: Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–73), thirty-sixth President of the United States (1963–69).

L. 22: “cabinet”: A reference to Nixon’s choices for his cabinet.

L. 23: “no dick”: A phrase used frequently by Giovanni and oth ers to refer to President Nixon.

L. 28: “united quakers”: Nixon’s religious background was Quaker.

L. 28: “crackers”: White people.

L. 38: “honkies”: White people.

Ll. 39–41: “riderless horses…eternal flame”: Most likely a reference to the funeral of John F. Kennedy (1917–63), thirty-fifth President of the United States (1961–63), and the eternal flame that marks his grave.

“For an Intellectual Audience”

In an interview Giovanni told me that she has always associated the made-up word moile with Dr. Seuss’s Horton Hears a Who. In that story, the “whos” live in an elephant’s ear. Because they want the elephant to know they are there, they all agree to shout at the same time—and, except for one little who, they do. Only when that little who also shouts does Horton hear them. The whos live in a little ball, and Giovanni said she thought of the little ball as a moile.

Black Judgement

Black Judgement was originally published in 1968, just a few months after Black Feeling Black Talk. Giovanni invested the money she had made from the sales of Black Feeling Black Talk in professional cover art and high-quality printing for her second self-published volume; the cover included photographs of LeRoi Jones, Rap Brown, Ron Karenga, and Charles Kenyatta. She also experimented with the appearance of the poems on the page: they are alternately justified on the left side and the right side. Of the twenty-seven poems originally constituting this volume, twenty-six were written in 1968; many reflect the poet’s responses to the devastating public events of that year: the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., in April; the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy in June; and the election of Richard M. Nixon as the thirty-seventh president in November.

Within six months of its publication, Black Judgement had sold 6,000 copies, a phenomenal figure. Containing what Margaret Walker called Giovanni’s “signature poem”—“Nikki-Rosa”—the volume signaled to the literary world that a new, serious writer had emerged.

The original publication of Black Judgement included the following lines on its title page:

Sometimes we find we have nothing to give

but love

which is a poem

which I give

For the Black Revolution

“The Dance Committee (Concerning Jean-Léon Destiné)”

During her stint at the People’s Settlement House in Wilmington, Giovanni organized a Black Arts Festival to which she invited—and succeeded in bringing—the distinguished Haitian dancer and choreographer Jean-Léon Destiné (1925–).

L. 2: “Fanon”: Frantz Fanon (1925–61), a West Indian philoso pher and psychoanalyst who argued that the victims of oppression (especially of colonialism and racism) should and would eventually turn to violence and that the violence would be redemptive. His work influenced many groups in the 1960s, including members of the Black Panthers. His most influential works were Black Skin, White Masks (1952) and The Wretched of the Earth (1961).

L. 13: “double V”: A verbal play on the campaign spearheaded by the Black press during World War II; “Double V” meant “victory at home and victory abroad.”

L. 18: “wouldn’t be in the Black community”: The dance troupe performed in a white high school rather than at the People’s Settlement House, which was in the Black community.

L. 19: “Black French”: Haiti (home of Destiné) was originally a French colony.

“Of Liberation”

L. 12: “3 / 5 of a man”: The U.S. Constitution originally defined a male slave as three fifths of a man.

Ll. 35–36: “The last bastion…mind”: In her public readings, Giovanni attributes this statement to the historian Lerone Bennett, Jr., author of Before the Mayflower and other works.

L. 91: “The Red Black and Green”: Especially during the 1960s, Black Nationalists began sporting these colors as a symbol of Blackness and Black solidarity. The origin of these colors, however, dates back to Marcus Garvey’s United Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), which was founded in 1914 and promoted the unification of African peoples throughout the Diaspora. The UNIA’s flag was red, black, and green.

L. 97: “Professor Neal”: Larry Neal (1937–1981), poet, dramatist, and essayist, was a central figure in the Black Arts movement.

“Poem for Black Boys (With Special Love to James)”

This is the only poem in the volume not written during 1968 (its date of composition was April 2, 1967).

L. 5: “Mau Mau”: The Mau Mau movement in Kenya led a revolt against British rule and eventually helped bring about Kenyan independence in 1963.

L.7: “Rap Brown”: H. Rap Brown, now Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin (1943–). See note to “Detroit Conference of Unity and Art,”.

L. 31: “any nickel bag”: A reference to a bag of marijuana.

“Concerning One Responsible Negro with Too Much Power”

This poem was written on April 3, 1968, just one day before the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. The National Guard was moved into Wilmington, where Giovanni was living, on April 3, which led her (in retrospect) to believe that the federal government knew King would be assassinated the next day; Wilmington was key to the flow of traffic up and down the East Coast. Giovanni herself managed to get out of the city just before all traffic was stopped in the wake of King’s assassination.

The poem seems to be about the individual described in “Wilmington Delaware.” See note to that poem on backmatter.

“Reflections on April 4, 1968”

Written just one day after King’s assassination, this poem considers it “an act of war,” the only response to which can be the destruction of white America. The prose form reinforces the devastating impact of this event on the poet.

Stanza 2: “President johnson”: A reference to Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–73), thirty-sixth President of the United States (1963–69).

Stanza 2: “distinction between us and negroes”: See note to “The True Import of Present Dialogue”.

Stanza 4: “the warriors in the streets”: Following King’s assassination, riots broke out in more than one hundred cities across the country.

Stanza 5: “statements from Dallas”: A reference to the site of the assassination of John F. Kennedy (1917–63), thirty-fifth President of the United States, on November 22, 1963.

Stanza 6: “Johnson’s footprints”: A reference to the fact that Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–73) succeeded to the presidency because of the assassination of John Kennedy; Johnson was Kennedy’s vice president (1961–63).

Stanza 7: “Zeus has wrestled the Black Madonna”: In Greek mythology, Zeus was the chief Olympian god. Here he is represented as having been defeated by Black Christianity. The Shrine of the Black Madonna, a Black church originally established in Detroit, has an eighteen-foot sculpture of a Black Madonna.

Stanza 7: “nadinolia gods”: Nadinolia is a product advertised to lighten skin color.

Stanza 7: “fire this time”: A reference to James Baldwin’s bestselling The Fire Next Time, published in 1963. Baldwin (1924–87) insisted that if Black Americans did not gain their essential liberties, there would be a revolution of fire, which would destroy the country.

“The Funeral of Martin Luther King, Jr.”

Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–68) was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968. His funeral in Atlanta, Georgia, was on April 9, 1968.

“A Litany for Peppe”

Peppe was a childhood nickname for the poet’s nephew, Christopher Black (1959–).

Line 8: “Blessed be”: Allusion to Christ’s beatitudes. See Matthew 5:1–11.

Line 13: See note to “Wilmington Delaware”.

Ll. 19–20: “Blessed is…earth”: An inversion of Christ’s beatitudes. See Matthew 5:1–11.

“Nikki-Rosa”

“Nikki-Rosa” was the nickname given to the poet when she was a child by her sister, Gary. The poem, described by Margaret Walker as Giovanni’s signature poem, was written on April 12, 1968.

L. 3: “Woodlawn”: A suburb of Cincinnati in which Giovanni and her family lived briefly before they moved to nearby Wyoming.

Ll. 15–18: “Hollydale…stock”: Hollydale is a subdivision outside Cincinnati that was created for Black people. Giovanni’s father was one of many who pooled their money to buy the land. They intended to use the land as collateral for the loans to build houses. But because they were Black, they could not find banks to lend them the money. Eventually the homes in Hollydale would be built, but the poet’s father, like many others, was unable to keep his money tied up for so long. He sold his stock and used the proceeds as a down payment on a house in Lincoln Heights.

“The Great Pax Whitie”

L. 1: See John 1:1–5.

L. 8: “peace be still”: These are the words spoken by Jesus when he calmed the waters of the Sea of Galilee; see Mark 4:39. The biblical story is also the basis of the gospel song, “Peace, Be Still,” by James Cleveland. On her award-winning album Truth Is on Its Way, Giovanni reads this poem to the accompaniment of the song, performed by the New York Community Choir.

L. 18: “Lot’s wife…Morton company”: For the account of Lot’s wife being turned into a pillar of salt, see Genesis 19:1–26.

L. 24: “our Black Madonna”: A reference to the eighteen-foot sculpture in the Shrine of the Black Madonna in Detroit.

Ll. 28–34: In Mark’s version of the story, when Jesus is brought before the high priests for interrogation, Peter is present. When asked directly about his knowledge of Jesus, Peter denies any association with him. See Mark 14:53–72. In Matthew 16:18, Jesus says to Peter, “Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church,” a statement which in the Greek involves a play on words (petros means “little rock”). The interpretation of this statement has sharply divided Christians; Giovanni makes reference to the interpretation of the Roman Catholic Church.

L. 37: “Carthaginians”: Carthage was an ancient city of North Africa on the Bay of Tunis. Despite having one of the greatest military leaders of the ancient world—Hannibal—the city was ultimately defeated by Roman forces.

L. 38: “great appian way”: The most famous of the Roman roads, the Appian Way connected Rome to Greece and the East.

L. 39: “the Moors”: A nomadic people of North Africa, the Moors, who became Muslims, established kingdoms throughout Spain. During the Middle Ages, Christian rulers attempted to conquer Moorish strongholds. The last Moorish city was Granada, which was conquered by Ferdinand and Isabella in 1492, and most of the Moors were driven out of Spain.

L. 53: “great emancipator”: Abraham Lincoln (1809–65), sixteenth President of the United States (1861–65).

L. 55: “making the world safe for democracy”: From Woodrow Wilson’s April 2, 1917, address to Congress, in which he sought a declaration of war.

L. 58: “barbecued six million”: A reference to Hitler’s genocidal attack on the Jews.

L. 60: “38th parallel”: A reference to the division of Korea, at the end of World War II, at the Thirty-eighth Parallel into the Soviet-occupied North and the U.S. occupied South. The Korean War resulted when North Korea crossed this line and invaded South Korea.

L. 63: “champagne was shipped out of the East”: Giovanni told me in an interview that she intended this as a reference to the defeat of the French in 1954 in the French Indochina War.

Ll. 64–65: “kosher pork…Africa”: Giovanni stated in an interview with me that this line compares the Zionists in Israel to pigs.

Ll. 71–72: “great white prince…texas”: John F. Kennedy (1917–63), thirty-fifth President of the United States.

Ll. 73–74: “Black shining prince…cathedral”: Malcolm X, later Al Hajj Malik Al-Shabazz (1925–65), was assassinated on February 21, 1965, at the Audubon Ballroom in New York City. A charismatic Black Nationalist leader, he was suspended from the Black Muslim movement and subsequently founded the Organization of Afro-American Unity. He was gunned down by three Black Muslims who were eventually convicted, but controversy about his assassination continues. Thomas à Becket (1118–70) was Archbishop of Canterbury. King Henry II of England and Becket were friends when then Archbishop Theobald died; Henry appointed Becket to the post in hopes of strengthening his own position vis-à-vis the Church. But Becket did not automatically support the king; their relationship deteriorated steadily. In a standoff about the power of the state over the Church, King Henry became infuriated with Becket and apparently spoke words to the effect that he wished someone would rid him of the archbishop. Four knights hoping to gain favor with Henry went to Canterbury and killed Becket on the altar of the cathedral, in the midst of a service. Not only did the knights fail in their attempt to court Henry’s favor but the king himself, some four years later, made a penitential walk through Canterbury and spent the night in Becket’s crypt.

L. 75: “our nigger in memphis”: Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–68), who was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968.

“Knoxville, Tennessee”

Giovanni and her sister usually spent their summers with their maternal grandparents, Louvenia and John Brown Watson, in Knoxville.

“Records”

U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy (1925–68), a presidential candidate, was shot in Los Angeles on June 5, 1968, and died on June 6. This poem was written on June 6, the day before Giovanni’s twenty-fifth birthday.

L. 5: “johnson”: President Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–73), thirty-sixth President of the United States (1963–69).

L. 13: “family”: The Kennedy family.

L. 17: “bobby”: Senator Robert F. Kennedy.

“Adulthood (For Claudia)”

Claudia Anderson was a friend in Cincinnati with whom Giovanni worked at Walgreens.

Ll. 2–4: “indianapolis…my aunt”: Giovanni often visited one of her aunts, Agnes Chapman, who lived in Indianapolis, a short distance from Cincinnati.

L. 36: “hammarskjöld”: Dag Hammarskjöld (1905–61), secretary-general of the United Nations (1953–61). He was killed on his way to the Congo when his plane crashed in northern Rhodesia (now Zambia).

L. 37: “lumumba”: Patrice Lumumba (1925–61) was the first prime minister of the Republic of the Congo (now Zaire). A charismatic leader of the independence movement in the Congo, Lumumba had radical anticolonialist politics that eventually led to a split in the Congo’s first national political party, Mouvement National Congolais, which he founded in 1958. He was killed in January 1961; both his death and unsuccessful attempts to cover up the truth about it outraged activists throughout the world. The possible role played by the Belgian or the U.S. government in his death is still uncertain.

L. 38: “diem”: Ngo Dinh Diem (1901–63), president (1955–63) of South Vietnam, murdered in a military coup which was covertly backed by the United States on November 1, 1963.

L. 39: “kennedy”: John F. Kennedy (1917–63), thirty-fifth President of the United States, was assassinated on November 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas.

L. 40: “malcolm”: Malcolm X, later Al Hajj Malik Al-Shabazz (1925–65), was assassinated on February 21, 1965, at the Audubon Ballroom in New York City. A charismatic Black Nationalist leader, he was suspended from the Nation of Islam and subsequently founded the Organization of Afro-American Unity. He was gunned down by three Black Muslims who were eventually convicted, but controversy about his assassination—for example, the possible role in it of the federal government—continues.

L. 41: “evers”: Medgar Wiley Evers (1925–63), Civil Rights activist and Mississippi field secretary for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), was murdered in the doorway of his home in Jackson, Mississippi, on June 12, 1963, by the white supremacist Byron de la Beckwith. Beckwith stood trial twice, in 1963 and 1964, but not until 1994 was he convicted of the crime.

L. 42: “schwerner, chaney and goodman”: Michael Schwerner (1940–64), James E. Chaney (1943–64), and Andrew Goodman (1943–64) were three Civil Rights activists who worked in Black voter registration in Mississippi and were murdered by members of the Ku Klux Klan, with the complicity of law enforcement officers. After a massive search, including 200 naval personnel, their bodies were found buried not far from Philadelphia, Mississippi. Despite the fact that everyone—including the Federal Bureau of Investigation—knew who the killers were, it was three years before Neshoba County Sheriff Lawrence Rainey, Chief Deputy Sheriff Cecil Price, and five others were convicted on federal charges of violating the civil rights of the three. No state charges were ever filed.

L. 43: “liuzzo”: Viola Gregg Liuzzo (1925–65), a medical lab technician, mother, and activist from Michigan. She was killed in an automobile on the Selma Highway on March 26, 1965, because a car with members of the Ku Klux Klan saw her, a white woman, in the same automobile as a black man. The four KKK members were arrested, and one agreed to testify against the other three, but they were all acquitted of murder. Eventually, through orders from President Johnson, they were convicted on federal charges of conspiring to deprive Liuzzo of her civil rights. Viola Liuzzo is the only white woman honored at the Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery, Alabama.

L. 44: “stokely”: Stokely Carmichael, later Kwame Ture (1941–98), Civil Rights activist, chair of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (1966–67), and “prime minister” of the Black Panthers. Carmichael is credited with creating the slogan “Black Power.” He moved to Guinea in 1968, and in 1973 he became a citizen of Uganda.

L. 45: “le roi”: LeRoi Jones, now Amiri Baraka (1934–). See note to “Poem (No Name No. 3),”.

L. 46: “rap”: H. Rap Brown, now Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin (1943–). See note to “Detroit Conference of Unity and Art,”.

L. 47: “pollard, thompson and cooper”: Three SNCC workers on their way to California who were killed in Texas.

L. 48: “king”: Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–68).

L. 49: “kennedy”: Robert F. Kennedy (1925–68).

“From a Logical Point of View”

L. 12: “dream deferred”: See Langston Hughes’s poem “Harlem,” the famous first line of which is “What happens to a dream deferred?”

“Dreams”

L. 6: “raelet”: The Raelettes (originally known as the Cookies) were a female backup trio for the singer Ray Charles.

L. 7: “dr o wn d in my youn tears”: “Drown in My Own Tears” was one of Ray Charles’s big hits.

L. 8: “tal kin bout”: Another Ray Charles hit, “Talking About You.”

L. 9: “marjorie hendricks”: Marjorie Hendricks was the gritty-voiced lead singer of the Raelettes.

L. 12: “baaaaaby nightandday”: Words from another big Ray Charles hit, “The Night Time Is the Right Time.”

L. 19: “sweet inspiration”: The Sweet Inspirations were back ground singers for Atlantic Records. The lead singer was Cissy Houston (mother of Whitney); the others were Estelle Brown, Sylvia Shemwell, and Myrna Smith. The Sweet Inspirations, who sang background vocals for many of Aretha Franklin’s hits, sang three-part harmony, unlike the Raelettes, who sang the blues.

“Revolutionary Music”

This poem, which is both about and constructed from the names of musical groups, themes, and songs, asserts the political implications of much popular music recorded by Black musicians during the 1960s. It was cited by Stephen Henderson as an excellent example of “the use of tonal memory as poetic structure” in Black poetry. By “tonal memory,” he means “the practice…of forcing the reader to incorporate into the structure of the poem his memory of a specific song, or passage of a song, or even of a specific delivery technique. Without this specific memory the poem cannot be properly realized.” See Stephen Henderson, Understanding the New Black Poetry: Black Speech and Black Music as Poetic References (New York: William Morrow, 1973), pp. 53–54.

Ll. 1–2: “sly/and the family stone”: Sly and the Family Stone was an important musical group in the late 1960s; they brought together gospel, rhythm and blues, and rock.

L. 4: “dancing to the music”: “Dance to the Music” was the first major hit by Sly and the Family Stone.

L. 5: “james brown”: James Brown (1933–), the Godfather of Soul, inventor of funk, and quite likely the most important contributor to and influence on soul music.

Ll. 11–14: “although you happy…taking you on”: This line is from “Money Won’t Change You,” a big hit for James Brown that later was covered by Aretha Franklin.

L. 19: “good god! ugh!”: Words from James Brown’s “I Can’t Stand Myself (When You Touch Me).”

L. 21: “i got the feeling baby”: Another James Brown hit, “I’ve Got the Feeling.”

L. 23: “martha and the vandellas dancing in the street”: Martha and the Vandellas, one of the most important girl groups of the 1960s, were a gritty and soulful alternative to their chief rivals, the Supremes. The group originated in Detroit in 1962 and was anchored by Martha Reeves, the lead singer. “Dancin’ in the Streets” was perhaps their biggest hit. In an interview, Giovanni stated that she and other young Black revolutionaries understood the song to be a coded reference to the Detroit riots.

L. 24: “shorty long…at that junction”: Frederick “Shorty” Long, born in Birmingham, Alabama, was a musician and recording artist who signed with Motown in 1963. He cowrote (with Eddie Holland) and performed “Function at the Junction,” which eventually became a classic and which carries a strong political message.

Ll. 26–27: “aretha said they better/think”: Aretha Franklin (1942–), the undisputed “Queen of Soul.” “Think” was a hit single with significant political overtones; it was recorded on the album Aretha Now, released in 1968.

L. 29: “ain’t no way to love you”: “Ain’t No Way,” which was written by Aretha Franklin’s sister, Carolyn, was recorded on the album Lady Soul, released in 1968.

L. 31: “the o’jays”: Taking their name from the radio DJ Eddie O’Jay, the O’Jays had more than fifty hit singles during their forty-year career.

L. 34: “mighty mighty impressions”: The Impressions were a Chicago group led by Curtis Mayfield; the original group also included Jerry Butler, whose lead vocals helped make “For Your Precious Love” a huge hit and launched Butler’s solo career. Among their many hits was the 1968 “We’re a Winner,” one of the earliest R & B celebrations of Black pride.

L. 40: “temptations”: The Temptations, a five-member group, were the most successful of Motown’s male vocal groups.

L. 41: “supremes”: The Supremes, eventually a three-member group, were the most successful of Motown’s female vocal groups.

L. 42: “delfonics”: A male trio, the Delfonics were one of the first groups to exhibit the smooth and soulful style that eventually became known as the “Philly sound.”

L. 43: “miracles”: The Miracles, a male vocal group led by the singer and songwriter Smokey Robinson, helped define the Motown sound.

L. 44: “intruders”: The Intruders were a male vocal group from Philadelphia who signed with Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff’s record company, Philadelphia International Records. They were innovators in the Philly sound.

L. 45: “beatles”: Contrary to the suggestion of these lines, Gio vanni is actually an admirer of the music of the Beatles (witness her poem “This Is Not for John Lennon,”).

L. 45: “animals”: A British male quintet, the Animals were one of the most important of the British R & B groups of the 1960s.

L. 46: “young rascals”: A white, male rock band, the Young Ras cals had a penchant for playing Black soul music, sometimes dubbed “blue-eyed soul.”

L. 49: “sam cooke”: Sam Cooke (1931–64) was a popular and influential singer who emerged in the 1950s as a gospel star and then began recording popular songs, including the megahits “You Send Me” and “Wonderful World.” His influence on soul music as well as on many of its best-known performers cannot be overstated. “A Change Is Gonna Come,” recorded in February 1964, was his last great ballad. Controversy still surrounds his violent death.

“Beautiful Black Men (With compliments and apologies to all not mentioned by name)”

L. 9: “running numbers”: The numbers was a popular illegal gambling game played in Black communities all over the country, similar to (and largely replaced by) state lotteries. A numbers runner (analogous to a bookie) collected and paid off bets made each day.

L. 10: “hogs”: Cadillac automobiles.

L. 11: “walking their dogs”: “Walking the Dog” was a dance popularized by Rufus Thomas, a DJ in Memphis and father of Carla Thomas, who recorded the smash hit “Gee Whiz (Look at His Eyes).”

L. 15: “jerry butler”: The performer and composer Jerry “the Iceman” Butler started his career as a member of the Impressions and subsequently had many hit songs as a soloist.

L.15: “Wilson pickett”: Wilson Pickett was unrivaled in the sheer energy he brought to a number of hits in the 1960s, including “In the Midnight Hour” and “Mustang Sally.”

L. 15: “the impressions”: The Impressions were a Chicago group led by Curtis Mayfield; the original group also included Jerry Butler, whose lead vocals helped make “For Your Precious Love” a huge hit and launched Butler’s solo career.

L. 16: “temptations”: The Temptations, a five-member group, were the most successful of Motown’s male vocal groups.

L. 16: “mighty mighty sly”: Sly and the Family Stone was an important group in the late 1960s; they brought together gospel, rhythm and blues, and rock.

L. 20: “new breed men”: New Breed was a store in Harlem in the 1960s.

L. 20: “breed alls”: Overalls made of leather, suede, or velvet, popular in the late 1960s.

“Ugly Honkies, or The Election Game and How to Win It”

The first portion of the poem (lines 1–149) was written on August 8, 1968, and the postelection lines (150–58) were written on November 18.

L. 5: “lyndon”: Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–73), thirty-sixth President of the United States (1963–69).

L. 6: “ike”: Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969), thirty-fourth President of the United States (1953–61).

L. 6: “nixon”: Richard M. Nixon (1913–94), vice president under Eisenhower (1953–61) and thirty-seventh President of the United States (1969–74).

L. 6: “hhh”: Hubert H. Humphrey (1911–78), vice president to Lyndon B. Johnson (1965–69), and the Democratic presidential candidate in 1968. He narrowly lost the 1968 election to Richard Nixon.

L. 6: “wallace”: George C. Wallace (1919–98), governor of Alabama for multiple terms. Wallace was an open segregationist who attempted to block integration of public schools in the 1960s. He was an Independent presidential candidate in the 1968 election, in which he received roughly 13 percent of the vote and carried five Southern states.

L. 6: “maddox”: Lester Maddox (1915–2003), governor of Georgia from 1967 to 1971 and lieutenant governor from 1971 to 1975. Before he entered politics Maddox gained notoriety for closing down his Atlanta restaurant (1964) rather than desegregate it. He unsuccessfully sought the 1968 Democratic presidential nomination.

L. 16: “daley”: Richard J. Daley (1902–76), Democratic mayor of Chicago from 1955 to 1976. Daley brought national attention to himself during the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago by allowing city police to use violence against demonstrators protesting the Vietnam War.

L. 17: “booing senator ribicoff”: At the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago, Senator Abraham Ribicoff (1910–98) nominated George McGovern (1922–) to be the party’s presidential candidate. In his nomination speech, Ribicoff referred to the “Gestapo tactics on the streets of Chicago,” which provoked a torrent of expletives from Daley. Ribicoff was Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare under President John F. Kennedy and served as a U.S. senator from Connecticut from 1963 to 1981.

L. 21: “julian bond”: Julian Bond (1940–) served four terms in the Georgia House of Representatives (1967–74) and six terms in the Georgia Senate (1975–87). He was first elected to a one-year term in 1965, but the House refused to seat him because of his opposition to the Vietnam War. He was again elected in 1966 to fill his own vacant seat, and the House again voted against seating him. After he won a third election, to a two-year term, in November 1966, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the Georgia House had violated Bond’s rights. Bond had been one of the founding members of SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) and subsequently editor of the protest newspaper The Atlanta Inquirer. He is currently chairman of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People).

L. 24: “life”: Life magazine. L. 24: “muskie and huskie humphrey”: Edmund Muskie (1914–96) was a U.S. senator from Maine (1958–80). He was the Democratic running mate of Hubert H. Humphrey in the 1968 presidential election.

L. 30: “john and bobby”: John F. Kennedy (1917–63) and Robert F. Kennedy (1925–68), both assassinated.

L. 31: “evers and king”: Medgar Wiley Evers (1925–63) and Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–68). See note to “Adulthood,”.

L. 32: “caroline”: Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg (1957–), daughter of President John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy. An attorney and writer, she is today president of the Kennedy Library Foundation.

L. 34: “arthur miller”: Arthur A. Miller (1915–), award-winning playwright, author of Death of a Salesman. Miller in fact attended the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago as the delegate from Roxbury.

Ll. 46–47: “and hhh says…wrong”: The 1968 presidential candidate Hubert H. Humphrey refused to denounce Chicago’s Mayor Daley for his deployment of the police during the convention.

L. 55: “politics of ’64”: The 1964 Democratic ticket was President Lyndon B. Johnson and Hubert H. Humphrey. Johnson had succeeded to the presidency after the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963; because he was the sitting president, his election in 1964 was virtually guaranteed, and he enjoyed a landslide victory over Barry M. Goldwater, the Republican candidate.

Ll. 56–62: “the deal…chicago”: Giovanni’s argument is that the leaders of the Republican and Democratic political parties conspired together, agreeing that Johnson would be allowed to win the presidency in 1964 in return for which Nixon would be allowed to win the 1968 election. The 1968 Democratic Convention produced a candidate (Humphrey) less likely to win than, for example, Robert F. Kennedy might have been had he not been assassinated. Like many intellectuals of the 1960s, Giovanni was convinced that national events were orchestrated through the conspiracies of a few powerful figures.

L. 56: “the bird”: An allusion to President Johnson’s wife, “Lady Bird” Johnson.

L. 58: “dallas”: An allusion to Kennedy’s assassination in Dallas, Texas.

L. 60: “los angeles”: An allusion to the assassination of the presidential hopeful Robert F. Kennedy in June 1968, in Los Angeles.

L. 61: “tricky dick”: Nickname for Richard M. Nixon (1913–94), thirty-seventh President of the United States (1969–74), who was forced to resign early in his second term.

L. 62: “chicago”: Site of the 1968 Democratic Convention.

L. 66: “second reconstruction”: Just as the first Reconstruction, following the Civil War, was largely a failure and was followed by increasing violence against Blacks in the South and the erosion of their civil liberties, Giovanni sees the events leading to the election of Nixon as tied to the erosion of gains made during the Civil Rights movement.

L. 77: “gregory or cleaver”: An allusion to the comedian and activist Dick Gregory (1932–), who ran for president in 1968, and to Eldridge Cleaver (1935–98), Black militant minister of information for the Black Panthers; Cleaver was wounded in a Panther shoot-out with police in 1968, jumped bail, and fled to Algeria.

L. 81: “nixon-agnew”: Spiro T. Agnew (1918–96), Richard Nixon’s running mate in the 1968 presidential election. Formerly the governor of Maryland, Agnew served as vice president from 1969 to 1973, when he resigned after being fined for income tax evasion.

Ll. 87–88: “about nigeria…on’”: An allusion to the thirty-month civil war in Nigeria, also known as the Biafran War (1967–70), which cost an estimated one million lives, most of them lost to starvation.

L. 119: “mccarthy”: Eugene J. McCarthy (1916–) was a candidate for the 1968 Democratic presidential nomination. He announced his candidacy in 1967 on an antiwar platform, challenging President Johnson and his policies. McCarthy’s campaign success in New Hampshire (in March 1968) helped draw Robert F. Kennedy into the race and influenced President Johnson’s decision not to seek reelection. McCarthy was a U.S. representative from Minnesota from 1949 to 1959 and a U.S. Senator from 1959 to 1971. After he lost the presidential nomination, he finished his term in the Senate and returned to university teaching.

L. 124: “the assassination of one”: A reference to Robert F. Kennedy.

L. 128: “teddy”: A reference to Senator Edward M. Kennedy (1932–), brother of John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy, and a member of the U.S. Senate since 1962.

L. 150: “wallace”: George C. Wallace, who ran as an Independent in the 1968 presidential election; see note to line 6 on backmatter.

“Cultural Awareness”

L. 17: “maulana”: Maulana Karenga, a Black Nationalist, first instituted the celebration of Kwanza (Swahili for “first fruits”) in 1966.

L. 17: “elijah”: Elijah Muhammad (1897–1975), longtime leader (1933–75) of the Nation of Islam.

L. 17: “el shabbaz”: Malcolm X, later Al Hajj Malik Al-Shabazz (1925–65), was assassinated on February 21, 1965, at the Audubon Ballroom in New York City.

L. 23: “zig-zag papers”: Used to roll marijuana.

“For Saundra”

L. 21: “no-Dick”: Richard M. Nixon (1913–94), thirty-seventh President of the United States (1969–74).

“For a Poet I Know”

L. 14: “aretha”: Aretha Franklin (1942–), “Queen of Soul.” L. 15: “james brown’s is humphrey”: James Brown (1933–), “Godfather of Soul,” was an important supporter of Hubert H. Humphrey and his presidential campaign.

L. 16: “columbia”: This poem was written in January 1968, when Giovanni was enrolled in Columbia University.

L. 29: “joe goncalves”: Dingane Joe Goncalves, founder of Journal of Black Poetry.

L. 30: “carolyn rodgers”: Carolyn M. Rodgers (1945–), Chicago-born poet associated with the Black Arts movement.

L. 31: “hoyt fuller”: Hoyt Fuller (1927–81), journalist, educator, and editor of Black World (formerly Negro Digest), an important publication during the 1960s and early 1970s.

L. 32: “jet poem”: A reference to Jet magazine.

“For Teresa”

Teresa Elliott was a close friend of Giovanni’s mother.

L. 24: “peppe”: The poet’s nephew, Christopher Black (1959–).

L. 26: “gary”: The poet’s sister, Gary Ann (1940–).

“My Poem”

L. 3: “wrote a poem”: A reference to “The True Import of Present Dialogue, Black vs. Negro,”.

Re: Creation

Re: Creation was published in 1970 by Broadside Press. It is composed of forty-two poems (including the poem of dedication), which were written between May 1969 and July 1970, that is, during the last few months of Giovanni’s pregnancy and the first year of her son’s life.

“For Tommy”

In the original edition, this poem was under the heading “Dedication.” Thomas Watson Giovanni, the poet’s only child, was born August 31, 1969.

“Two Poems From Barbados”

These two poems were written in June 1969 and July 1969, respectively.

“For Harold Logan Murdered by “persons unknown” cause he wanted to own a Black club on Broadway”

Harold Logan, together with the rhythm and blues singer Lloyd Price, acquired in the 1960s the old Birdland jazz club, just north of Fifty-second Street on Broadway. Although Logan and Price dubbed the club the Turntable (also the name of their recording company), it continued to be remembered affectionately as Birdland. It was, of course, closed on Sundays, and the intrepid Giovanni decided it would be a great place to have a book party to promote Black Judgement. She approached Logan, who let her use it with the proviso that she bring in at least a hundred people; if she failed to do so, she would have to pay him $500. Logan was rumored to be connected to the mob, which gave Giovanni added incentive to advertise her event and fill the house. Ironically, she did such effective publicity that people were lined up for over a block to get in. The offices of The New York Times overlooked this line, and a reporter got interested in where all those people were going on a Sunday afternoon. A photograph and story were featured in the Times on Monday, which boosted Giovanni’s sales even more.

Logan was, in fact, brutally murdered inside the club, and Price distanced himself as much as possible; he moved to Africa and involved himself in nonmusical ventures through most of the 1970s. After he returned to the United States in the early 1980s, Price’s career took on new life, and he continues to perform at concerts and festivals.

“No Reservations (for Art Jones)”

Art Jones was a prisoner who wrote Giovanni a letter.

“For Gwendolyn Brooks”

This poem was written for To Gwen With Love: An Anthology Dedicated to Gwendolyn Brooks, which was published in 1971 by Johnson Publishing Company. In the anthology, the poem has the subtitle “a ‘note of love.’”

“Poem for Aretha”

L. 55: “billie holiday’s life”: Billie Holiday (1915–59), influential but tragic jazz singer whose life was marked by financial difficulties, attachments to abusive men, and addiction to drugs.

L. 56: “dinah washington’s death”: Dinah Washington (1924–63), singer and pianist whose range included blues, gospel, rhythm and blues, and pop. She died of an accidental overdose of sleeping pills.

L. 67: “johnny ace”: John Marshall Alexander, Jr., a.k.a. Johnny Ace (1929–54), popular rhythm and blues singer whose premature, bizarre death sustained his reputation long after he had died. Franklin covered several songs he had written, including “Never Let Me Go” and “My Song.”

L. 67 “lil green”: Lil Green (1919–54), Chicago blues singer who achieved a successful touring and recording career. One of her big hits was “Romance in the Dark,” which Franklin recorded as “In the Dark.”

Ll. 69–70: “‘i say a little prayer’…anymore”: Dionne Warwick (1940–), pop singer whose string of hits from her collaboration with Burt Bacharach and Hal David earned her multiple Grammys. “I Say a Little Prayer” was a Bacharach-David composition for Warwick that Franklin later recorded as well.

L. 71: “money won’t change you”: This song was initially a James Brown hit.

L. 72: “james can’t sing ‘respect’”: “Respect,” written by Otis Redding, was one of Franklin’s biggest hits, if not her signature song. Although she had a hit with her cover of James Brown’s “Money Can’t Change You,” Brown could not similarly record “Respect.”

L. 73: “ray charles from marlboro country”: In the 1960s, Ray Charles moved away from R & B into country and western music, recording, for example, “Your Cheatin’ Heart” in 1962.

L. 75: “nancy wilson”: Nancy Wilson (1937–) jazz and pop singer.

L. 77: “dionne”: Dionne Warwick; see note to line 69.

L. 81: “you make me/feel”: One of Franklin’s big hits was “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman,” first released on her 1968 album, Lady Soul. The song was written by Carole King and Jerry Wexler.

L. 81: “the blazers”: Dyke & the Blazers, a little remembered R & B group led by Dyke Christian (1943–71); they had a huge hit with “Let a Woman Be a Woman—Let a Man Be a Man.”

Ll. 83–85: “when my soul…claim it”: Another line from Franklin’s “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman.”

L. 85: “joplin said ‘maybe’”: Janis Joplin (1943–70), blues and rock and roll star who died of an accidental drug overdose. She had a hit song entitled “Maybe.”

Ll. 87–89: “when humphrey…james brown”: Franklin declined to help with Hubert Humphrey’s presidential campaign, but James Brown agreed to do so.

L. 90: “otis”: Otis Redding (1941–67), one of the greatest soul singers and writers of all time, was killed in an airplane crash in Madison, Wisconsin. Although some people aboard survived the crash, Redding and four members of his backup group, the Bar-Kays, were killed; Giovanni has stated her belief that the crash was not an accident. Redding wrote “Respect,” which Franklin recorded in the spring of 1967 (he died on December 10 of that year).

Ll. 91–92: “the impressions…‘moving/on up’”: The Impressions were a Chicago group led by Curtis Mayfield; the original group also included Jerry Butler, whose lead vocals helped make “For Your Precious Love” a huge hit and launched Butler’s solo career. The quoted line is from their hit song, “We’re a Winner.”

L. 98: “temptations say…‘think about it’”: The Temptations, a five-member group, were the most successful of Motown’s male vocal groups.

“Revolutionary Dreams”

Ll. 12–15: “natural/dreams…natural”: This poem makes use of Aretha Franklin’s 1968 hit song, “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman.”

“Walking Down Park”

L. 1: “park”: Park Avenue in New York City.

L. 2: “amsterdam”: Amsterdam Avenue in New York City.

L. 3: “columbus”: Columbus Avenue in New York City.

L. 18: “central park”: Central Park in New York City.

L. 30: “time’s squares”: A play on Times Square, also in New York City.

“Kidnap Poem”

L. 6 “jones beach”: Jones Beach State Park in Wantagh, Long Island.

L. 7: “coney island”: Coney Island is an amusement park and beach spot in Brooklyn, New York.

L. 16: “red Black green”: Especially during the 1960s, Black Nationalists began sporting these colors as a symbol of Blackness and Black solidarity. The origin of the colors, however, dates back to Marcus Garvey’s United Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), which was founded in 1914 and promoted the unification of all African peoples throughout the Diaspora. The UNIA’s flag was red, black, and green.

“The Genie in the Jar (For Nina Simone)”

Nina Simone (1933–2003), “High Priestess of Soul,” musician, singer, and political diva. Giovanni dedicated two poems to Simone, with whom she enjoyed a brief friendship; the other is “Poem (For Nina),”.

“The Lion In Daniel’s Den (for Paul Robeson, Sr.)”

Paul Robeson (1898–1976) was an activist, athlete, singer, and actor. The son of a runaway slave and an abolitionist Quaker, Robeson won a four-year academic scholarship to Rutgers University, where he excelled in both athletics and academics: he won fifteen varsity letters in sports, was initiated into Phi Beta Kappa in his junior year, and graduated as valedictorian. Despite having been named twice to the All-American Football Team, he was not inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame until 1995, nearly two decades after his death. He attended Columbia Law School and practiced law briefly but then turned to theater and music. He played many lead roles on the stage for which he won international acclaim, and he starred in a number of films. His outspokenness about injustice and inequality eventually led to charges of being a Communist brought against him by the House Un-American Activities Committee, which grievously harmed his career. In 1950 the United States revoked his passport, and he struggled for eight years to regain it so as to be able to travel abroad, essential to his work. At the time this poem was written (1970), both Robeson and his son, Paul Robeson, Jr., were alive; hence the designation “Sr.”

The poem combines two biblical stories, the conversion of Paul on the road to Damascus and the testing of Daniel’s faith through his being cast into the den of lions.

Ll. 1–2: “on the road…christians”: Before his conversion, Saul was opposed to Christianity and did what he could to help eradicate it. He was chasing Jewish Christians who had fled to Damascus when he experienced his conversion. See Acts 9.

L. 8: “I Am Paul”: Paul was born into a Hellenistic Jewish family and given the Hebrew name Saul as well as the name Paul; he was a Roman citizen. Although his embrace of Christ’s teachings and divinity did not in his own mind conflict with his Jewish faith, he is traditionally identified as Saul before the conversion and Paul after.

L. 13: “red black and green songs”: Especially during the 1960s, Black Nationalists began sporting these colors as a symbol of Blackness and Black solidarity. The origin of the colors, however, dates back to Marcus Garvey’s United Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), which was founded in 1914 and promoted the unification of all African peoples throughout the Diaspora. The UNIA’s flag was red, black, and green.

“For A Lady of Pleasure Now Retired”

L. 23: “louvenia smiled”: A reference to Giovanni’s maternal grandmother, Emma Louvenia Watson (1898–1967).

“2nd Rapp”

L. 2: “rap”: H. Rap Brown, now Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin (1943–). See note to “Detroit Conference of Unity and Art,”. Rap Brown went underground in 1970, the year this poem was published, because he had been charged with violating the terms of his bail and two of his friends had been killed in a suspicious explosion. He was arrested in 1971 after being wounded by police, stood trial in 1972, and began serving a prison sentence in 1973.

“Poem For Unwed Mothers (to be sung to “The Old F.U. Spirit”)”

Giovanni was herself, of course, “an unwed mother,” which subjected her to far more criticism than a “single mother” would receive today; she was, in fact, one of the first public figures who insisted on her right to control her life as she wished. She is certainly one of the women who changed the language we use to describe mothers who are unattached to their children’s fathers.

“Ego Tripping (there may be a reason why)”

L. 12: “nefertiti”: Nefertiti was one of the most celebrated of the ancient Egyptians, despite the fact that relatively little is known about her. She was the wife of King Akhenaten (1353–1336 BC) and with him raised six daughters. When one of the daughters died, the parents’ mourning was depicted in wall paintings. Nefertiti disappeared from the court after her daughter’s death. Her name means “the beautiful woman has come.”

L. 24: “hannibal”: Hannibal (c. 247–c. 183 BC) was a Carthaginian general and the leader of the march across the Alps. He was a precocious child, reputed to have begun at the age of nine following his father on campaigns.

“A Poem/Because It Came As A Surprise To Me”

L. 2: “saul”: St. Paul. Paul was born into a Hellenistic Jewish family and given the Hebrew name Saul as well as the name Paul; he was a Roman citizen. Although his embrace of Christ’s teachings and divinity did not in his own mind conflict with his Jewish faith, he is traditionally identified as Saul before the conversion and as Paul after.

“Oppression”

L. 4: “mme. walker”: Madame C. J. Walker (1867–1919), the first African American millionaire, made her fortune through hair-straightening and beauty products.

L. 7: “APA to GDI”: Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., a Black Greek fraternity originally founded at Cornell University, and “Goddamn Independent,” the slang term for students in historically Black colleges and universities who do not join a sorority or fraternity. Although Giovanni eventually became an honorary member of Delta Sigma Theta, Incorporated, she was a GDI as an undergraduate.

L. 9: “howard university”: The first African American sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha, was founded at Howard University in 1908. There is fierce if good-natured competition between the AKAs and the Deltas, of which Giovanni is an honorary member.

L. 13: “diana ross leaving the supremes”: Diana Ross (1944–) was the lead performer of the Supremes, Motown’s biggest female group. In 1967 the Supremes were renamed Diana Ross and the Supremes by Barry Gordy, head of Motown; in 1970 Ross left the group for a solo career.

“Toy Poem”

L. 4: “loving rawls”: Lou Rawls (1935–), blues and rhythm and blues singer popular in the 1960s and 1970s.

L. 5: “st. jacques”: Raymond St. Jacques (1930–90) was a stage and film actor who supported himself with menial jobs between acting opportunities. His big break was in the off-Broadway production of Jean Genet’s The Blacks. His film credits include Black Like Me (1964), The Pawnbroker (1965), Cotton Comes to Harlem (1970), and Glory (1989), in which he played Frederick Douglass but received no screen credit.

L. 22: “i wanna take you higher”: “I Want to Take You Higher” is the title of a song by Sly and the Family Stone.

“Poem For Flora”

Flora Alexander was a close friend of Giovanni’s parents.

L. 6: “nebuchadnezzar”: Nebuchadnezzar is the common mis-spelling of Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon from 605 to 562 B.C.E. He is credited with rebuilding Babylon—including the hanging gardens—as a wonder of the ancient world.

L. 9: “shadrach, meshach, and abednego”: In the Bible the three young friends of Daniel who were deported with him to Babylon by Nebuchadrezzar. They were cast into the fiery furnace, from which they emerged unscathed. See Daniel 3.

L. 15: “Sheba”: The unnamed (in the Bible) Queen of Sheba, ruler of the Sabeans, who were located in southwest Arabia, roughly where Yemen is today. She visited Solomon, the king of Israel, and gave him many treasures. Tradition has it that she was African and that her relationship with Solomon resulted in a son who was the founder of the royal house of Ethiopia. See 1 Kings 10:1–13 and 2 Chronicles 9:1–12.

“Poem For My Nephew (Brother C. B. Soul)”

When he was young, Giovanni’s nephew, Christopher Black, would sign his drawings “Brother C. B. Soul.”

“Yeah…But…”

L. 3: “diana”: Diana Ross (1944–), who had left the Supremes for a solo career in 1970, the year this poem was written.

L. 5: “dionne”: Dionne Warwick (1940–), pop singer whose string of hits from her collaboration with Burt Bacharach and Hal David earned her multiple Grammys.

L. 5: “making way for”: Most probably a reference to the album Make Way for Dionne Warwick, released in 1963.

L. 5: “just like me”: From a line in Warwick’s enormously successful “(They Long to Be) Close to You,” which was included on Make Way for Dionne Warwick and recorded again for the 1972 album Dionne.

“Poem For A Lady Whose Voice I Like”

This poem was originally written for the singer and actress Lena Horne (1917–).

My House (1972)

With the exception of two poems (“Just a New York Poem” and “We”), written in 1970, all the poems in My House were composed between January 1971 and June 1972. In an interview Giovanni said that when she came to write this book she knew she wanted to do something different; she would not write any more “revolutionary” poems.

Between the publication of Re: Creation in 1970 and My House in 1972, Giovanni traveled abroad for the first time, both to Europe and, more significant, to Africa. While she was in Africa, Truth Is on Its Way was released (July 1971) and became quite unexpectedly a huge success. The award-winning album presented Giovanni reading her poetry to the background of gospel music performed by the New York Community Choir. In July 1972, before My House was published, Giovanni read many of its poems to an audience of almost 1,100 people at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall. Her audience had grown considerably, then, by the time My House was published, a fact that is reflected in its initial sales, which surpassed those of the earlier volumes.

The volume was divided into two parts: “The Rooms Inside,” consisting of twenty-three poems on personal themes and arranged to follow the speaker’s progress from childhood to adulthood; and “The Rooms Outside,” consisting of thirteen poems on larger, more public themes, with the exception of the final, title poem.

“THE ROOMS INSIDE”

“Mothers”

L. 10: “burns avenue”: Giovanni and her family lived on Burns Avenue in Wyoming, a suburb north of Cincinnati, from about the time she was in kindergarten until about the end of her third grade year.

L. 23: “samson myth”: Samson’s strength lay in his hair, which he told Delilah had never been cut. Delilah exploited his weakness with women both to cut his hair and to blind him. See Judges 13–16.

“A Poem for Carol (May She Always Wear Red Ribbons)”

L. 3: “lincoln heights”: Lincoln Heights was the all-black suburb of Cincinnati where Giovanni and her family moved in 1948.

L. 4: “jackson street”: Giovanni’s parents first bought a house on Jackson Street in Lincoln Heights; later, they bought a home on Congress Street, just a few blocks from Jackson.

“Conversation”

This poem is clearly connected to the earlier “Alabama Poem”, published in Re: Creation.

“Rituals”

L. 14: “chandlers”: A chain store that sold inexpensive shoes.

“Poem for Stacia”

Stacia Murphy was an African American whom Giovanni met in Lagos, Nigeria. When Giovanni was unable to find a hotel room, Ms. Murphy let the poet stay with her.

“I Remember”

L. 11: “play ohmeohmy”: “Oh Me Oh My (I’m a Fool for You Baby)” was an Aretha Franklin hit song included in her album Young, Gifted, and Black, released in January 1972.

“Just a New York Poem”

Ll. 7–8: “women/in love”: A 1969 film version of the D. H. Lawrence novel.

Ll. 9–10: “The Spirit/In The Dark”: The actual title of Aretha Franklin’s 1970 album is Spirit in the Dark.

“The Wonder Woman (A New Dream—for Stevie Wonder)”

This poem looks back to “Dreams” (from Black Judgement,) and “Revolutionary Dreams” (from Re: Creation,).

Stevie Wonder had a female backup vocal group called Wonderlove, but Giovanni said she always thought of the group as the Wonderwomen.

L. 7: “sweet inspiration”: The Sweet Inspirations were back ground singers for Atlantic Records. The lead singer was Cissy Houston (mother of Whitney); the others were Estelle Brown, Sylvia Shemwell, and Myrna Smith. The Sweet Inspirations, who did background vocals for many of Aretha Franklin’s hits, sang three-part harmony. See the reference to being a “sweet inspiration” in the earlier poem “Dreams.”

“Categories”

In an interview Giovanni stated that she originally wrote this poem for Edie Locke, who was editor in chief at Mademoiselle magazine the year Giovanni won one of its Women-of-the-Year Awards (1971). Giovanni said she thought the surprise some people expressed at her winning the award was attributable to their habit of thinking in categories.

“Straight Talk”

Straight Talk was the name of a women’s television talk show in New York City in the early 1970s. It was hosted by Carol Jenkins.

Ll. 27–28: “the shadow/and the act”: Shadow and Act is the title of a 1964 collection of essays by Ralph Ellison (1914–94).

L. 28: “essence”: Essence magazine.

L. 28: “encore!”: From 1972 to 1980, Giovanni was a regular columnist for the Black newsmagazine Encore American & Worldwide News.

L. 29: “the preceding…the letter E”: This was a tag line used regularly by the children’s television show Sesame Street.

Ll. 33–34: “enjoyed waiting on/the lord”: “Why Can’t I Wait on the Lord” is the title of a gospel song by Harrison Johnson. It is sung as the background to Giovanni’s reading of “Straight Talk” on her album Like A Ripple On A Pond.

L. 38: “youth and truth are making love”: A line from “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin),” a 1969 hit single by Sly and The Family Stone.

L. 45: “spear o agnew association”: Spiro T. Agnew (1918–96) served as vice president under Richard M. Nixon from 1969 to 1973, when he resigned after being fined for income tax evasion.

L. 46: “HEY! this is straight talk!”: The television program Straight Talk ended with this line.

“Scrapbooks”

L. 9: “green dolphin street”: Title of a 1944 novel by Elizabeth Goudge.

L. 10: “the sun is my undoing”: Title of a 1944 novel by Marguerite Steen.

L. 19: “jack and jill dance”: Jack & Jill of America, Inc., a nonprofit African American family organization aimed at improving the growth and development of children, ages two to nineteen.

Ll. 32–34: “from the dean…fisk”: Ann Cheatam, dean of women at Fisk University when Giovanni was a freshman, expelled her at the end of her first semester.

L. 37: “grandfather graduated”: Giovanni’s maternal grandfa ther, John Brown Watson (1887–1962), was a high school Latin teacher who graduated from Fisk in 1905.

L. 49: “miles davis record”: Miles Davis (1926–91), trumpet player who had a tremendous influence on bebop and cool jazz.

L. 58: “something cool”: The title of a 1953 song and album recorded by the jazz singer June Christy (1925–90). Giovanni was a Christy fan during the 1960s and 1970s.

L. 59: “tears on my pillow”: A 1958 hit song that sold more than one million copies and ensured a career for Little Anthony and the Imperials.

“[Untitled] (For Margaret Danner)”

Margaret Danner (1915–82?), a Chicago poet, wrote Giovanni a letter expressing pride in Giovanni’s work. One of the lines in the letter was “one ounce of truth benefits like a ripple in a pond.” This line also provided the title for Giovanni’s 1973 album, Like A Ripple On A Pond.

“My Tower (For Barb and Anthony)”

“Barb” is Giovanni’s friend Barbara Crosby, who had a new son, Anthony.

L. 12: “black pearl of immeasurable worth”: See Matthew 13:45–46.

L. 18: “harriet’s route”: Harriet Tubman (c. 1820–1913) was the most famous conductor on the Underground Railroad.

“Poem (For Nina)”

This is the second poem Giovanni wrote for Nina Simone (1933–2003), “High Priestess of Soul,” musician, singer, and political diva. The other is “The Genie in the Jar,”.

L. 1: “in the castle of our skins”: In the Castle of My Skin is the title of the 1953 autobiography by the Caribbean writer George Lamming (1927–).

“Africa I”

L. 1: “kola nut”: Two kola trees bearing nuts are found in Africa; the kola nut is used to make medicines and beverages.

L. 9: “look ida”: Ida E. Lewis (1935–), journalist, editor, and publisher. At the time this poem was written, Lewis was the editor of Encore American & Worldwide News and a good friend of Giovanni.

L. 17: “john brown”: Giovanni’s maternal grandfather, John Brown Watson (1887–1962).

L. 20: “accra”: Accra, capital of Ghana and an important center in the gold and slave trade.

L. 25: “your mother”: Africa.

“Africa II”

L. 4: “cape coast castle”: Cape Coast Castle, on the coast of Ghana, was an important holding fort of the slave trade. Africans would be brought from the interior of the continent to places like Cape Coast Castle, where they would be placed in dungeons until enough had been gathered to fill the hold of a slave ship.

L. 5: “18th century clock”: Evidence of the presence of a high-ranking British officer. See lines 13–15.

L. 20: “there are thousands”: A reference to Africans intended to be shipped as slaves to the New World who died in the horrible conditions that prevailed at Cape Coast Castle (and other holding forts).

Ll. 22–23: “secret passageway…governor’s quarters”: African women awaiting transport in the dungeon were routinely subjected to rape by the British governor in charge.

L. 24: “roberta flack recorded a song”: Roberta Flack (1940–), pop singer who had several number-one hits in the 1970s, including “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face.” While she was at one of the slave-holding forts on the African coast, she recorded a song (not commercially released).

L. 25: “les mccann”: Les McCann (1935–), jazz pianist and singer who also visited a slave-holding fort on the African coast.

“They Clapped”

L. 9 “fanon”: Frantz Fanon (1925–61), political philosopher, writer, and activist whose work on the effects of colonialism on Africa—especially Black Skin, White Masks and The Wretched of the Earth—were highly influential.

L. 9: “davenport”: Giovanni does not recall whom she had in mind here, and I have been unable to identify a likely candidate.

L. 10: “j.h. clarke’s lectures”: John Henrik Clarke (1915–98) was an important educator and writer and a prominent figure in the pan-African movements of the 1960s and 1970s.

L. 11: “nkrumah”: Kwame Nkrumah (1909–72), leader and later president of Ghana, the first sub-Saharan African country to gain independence.

L. 11: “nigeria in the war”: A reference to the thirty-month civil war in Nigeria, also known as the Biafran War (1967–70), triggered by the Eastern Region’s declaration of itself as a separate state, Biafra.

L. 20: “lagos”: The former capital, largest city, and main port of Nigeria.

Ll. 26–27: “sly and the family/stone”: Sly and the Family Stone was an important singing group in the late 1960s; they brought together gospel, rhythm and blues, and rock.

L. 30: “james brown”: James Brown (1933–), a.k.a. the Godfather of Soul and Mr. Dynamite, inventor of funk, and the most important contributor to and influence on soul music.

“Poem (For Anna Hedgeman and Alfreda Duster)”

Anna Hedgeman (1899–1990) was an educator and Civil Rights activist. She was the only woman on the planning committee of the 1963 March on Washington. Giovanni met Hedgeman when she visited Fisk University and came to a history class in which Giovanni was enrolled. Giovanni subsequently ran into Hedgeman periodically in New York.

Alfreda Duster (1904–83), daughter of Ida B. Wells, was a civic leader and social worker in Chicago. On a visit to Chicago, Giovanni met her, but only once.

“Atrocities”

L. 1: “napalmed children”: Newspaper and television images of children whose bodies were on fire from the napalm used so widely during the Vietnam War (1954–75) were common during the late 1960s and early 1970s.

L. 4: “one president”: John F. Kennedy (1917–63), thirty-fifth President of the United States (1961–63), who was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963.

L. 4: “one nobel prize winner”: Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–68) received the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1964; he was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968.

L. 5: “one president’s brother”: U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy (1925–68), a presidential candidate, was shot in Los Angeles on June 5, 1968, and died the next day.

L. 5: “four to six white students”: Probably a reference to the May 18, 1970, incident at Kent State University, when four student protesters were shot and killed by National Guardsmen.

Ll. 8–9: “c.i.a…. pull/the trigger on malcolm”: Malcolm X, later Al Hajj Malik Al-Shabazz (1925–65), was assassinated on February 21, 1965, in the Audubon Ballroom in New York by gunmen associated with the Nation of Islam; many people (including Giovanni) believed that an agency of the federal government, such as the Central Intelligence Agency, had played a role in his death.

L. 10: “eight nurses in chicago”: The 1966 massacre of eight student nurses from South Chicago Community Hospital climaxed a life of violence and a three-month killing spree for Richard Speck (1941–91). Evidence suggests that Speck had murdered four other people in the three months leading up to the July 10 massacre.

L. 11: “sixteen people at the university of texas”: Charles Whitman’s 1966 killing spree was perhaps the first time Americans realized that public spaces are not necessarily safe. On August 1, 1966, Whitman made his way to the top of the Texas Tower on the University of Texas campus and began shooting at the people below; in his ninety-six-minute siege, he killed sixteen people and wounded another thirty. Immediately before he stood atop the tower, Whitman had killed his mother, his wife, a receptionist, and two couples he encountered on the stairs.

L. 12: “the boston strangler”: Although no one was ever officially identified as the Boston Strangler, the general public believed that Albert DeSalvo was that individual. During the period 1962–64, thirteen single women from the Boston area were sexually molested and strangled in their apartments; the public felt that these murders were the work of the same individual. Despite the fact that DeSalvo confessed to eleven “official” Strangler murders, controversy continues about whether he was the real murderer.

L. 13: “john coltrane”: John Coltrane (1926–67) was a jazz saxophonist, composer, and innovator who died of liver failure. Although there is no evidence that his death was from anything other than natural causes, Giovanni said in an interview that her “paranoia” has always made her suspicious of the early deaths of so many musicians.

L. 14: “sonny liston”: Charles “Sonny” Liston (1932–70), heavyweight boxing champion who was knocked out in 1964 in the seventh round by Cassius Clay and in a 1965 rematch in the first round, this time by Clay with the new name Muhammad Ali.

L. 14: “jimi hendrixs”: Jimi Hendrix (1942–70), hugely successful rock star who died at age twenty-seven of an apparent drug overdose, but mystery still surrounds his death.

L. 14: “janis joplin”: Janis Joplin (1943–70), blues and rock and roll star who died of an accidental drug overdose.

L. 15: “featherstone”: Ralph Featherstone (19?–70), field secretary for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee who was killed on March 9, 1970, in a car bombing intended for H. Rap Brown; the bombing occurred outside the Maryland courthouse where Brown was to stand trial.

L. 16: “che”: Che Guevara (1928–67), Latin American guerrilla leader whose revolutionary theories became popular during the 1960s. Guevara was an important figure in Fidel Castro’s 1959 revolution against Fulgencio Batista in Cuba. Guevara was shot to death by the Bolivian army in October 1967.

L. 17: “agnew”: Spiro T. Agnew (1918–96), formerly governor of Maryland, served as vice president under Richard M. Nixon from 1969 to 1973, when he resigned after being fined for income tax evasion.

L. 20: “eugene robinson”: According to Giovanni, Robinson was a police informant.

L. 21: “eldridge cleaver”: Eldridge Cleaver (1935–98), militant minister of information for the Black Panthers. Cleaver was wounded in a Panther shoot-out with police in 1968, jumped bail, and fled to Algeria.

L. 22: “expel a martyr”: An allusion to Huey Newton (1942–89) who with Bobby Seale formed the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, later known simply as the Black Panther Party. While Newton was in prison on a murder conviction that was later overturned, Cleaver took over the Black Panther Party. Cleaver was more militant than Newton and gained influence over the East Coast branches of the Panthers, while Newton was always based on the West Coast.

L. 23: “The president”: Richard M. Nixon (1913–94), thirty-seventh President of the United States (1969–74).

L. 24: “manson”: Charles Manson (1934–) was convicted of the 1969 murders of Sharon Tate and six other people. Although Manson did not commit the murders himself, his charismatic personality enabled him to convince others—his “Family”—to do so.

L. 26: “joe frazier”: Joe Frazier (1944–), former heavyweight boxing champion. Frazier became heavyweight champion in 1970, in part, many thought, because of the absence of Muhammad Ali (1942–) from the boxing scene. Ali had been stripped of his title in 1967, when he refused to fight in the Vietnam War. His match with Frazier in March 1971 was his first fight after being stripped of the title, and Frazier won the fifteen-round match by unanimous decision. In two subsequent matches, Ali defeated Frazier.

“Nothing Makes Sense”

L. 36: “aretha”: Aretha Franklin (1942–), the undisputed “Queen of Soul.”

L. 41: “julian bond”: Julian Bond (1940–) served four terms in the Georgia House of Representatives (1967–74) and six terms in the Georgia Senate (1975–87).

L. 41: “rap brown”: H. Rap Brown, now Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin (1943–). Civil Rights activist who became the chairman of SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) after Stokely Carmichael left that post.

L. 42: “nixon”: Richard M. Nixon (1913–94), thirty-seventh President of the United States (1969–74).

L. 44: “our man on the moon”: Neil Armstrong or Buzz Aldrin, the first men to walk on the moon.

“I Laughed When I Wrote It (Don’t You Think It’s Funny?)”

L. 2: “i guess negro”: See note to “The True Import of Present Dialogue,”.

L. 11 “shorter than hoover”: J. Edgar Hoover (1895–1972), director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (1924–72), whose abuse of his powers, especially in matters regarding Black people, has been widely documented.

L. 14: “rap brown”: H. Rap Brown, now Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin (1943–). Civil Rights activist who became chairman of SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) after Stokely Carmichael left that post.

L. 32: “interpol”: The International Criminal Police Organi zation.

L. 46: “aretha franklin”: Aretha Franklin (1942–), a.k.a. “Queen of Soul.”

“On Seeing Black Journal and Watching Nine Negro Leaders ‘Give Aid and Comfort to the Enemy’ to Quote Richard Nixon”

Black Journal was a nationally syndicated black news program that began airing in 1968. In 1970 Tony Brown (1933–) became its executive producer and host and initiated numerous changes, including an emphasis on self-help, which generated criticism from many African Americans.

For the significance of the use of “Negro” in the title, see note to “The True Import of Present Dialogue,”.

President Richard M. Nixon accused antiwar protesters of “giving aid and comfort to the enemy.”

L. 4: “steal away”: The title of a well-known slave spiritual.

The Women and the Men

Published in 1975, this volume brought together many of the poems originally published in Re: Creation and nineteen new poems. Re: Creation, which had been published by Broadside Press, had a smaller distribution than Giovanni’s other volumes, published by William Morrow. Many readers who had learned “Ego Tripping” from listening to the album Truth Is on Its Way did not discover a print version of the poem until its inclusion in The Women and the Men. The volume was originally divided into three sections: “The Women,” “The Men,” and “Some Places.” These section divisions are not maintained in the present text, which provides only the poems new to The Women and the Men.

“The Women Gather (for Joe Strickland)”

Joe Strickland was a journalist murdered in Boston by a house burglar. His widow asked if Giovanni would write something for his funeral. Giovanni knew Strickland because he wrote for Encore American & Worldwide News, a magazine in which she was actively involved.

L. 18: “rooms facing east”: Perhaps a reference to the prayer breakfasts held in the East Room of the White House by Richard Nixon during his presidency (1969–74).

“The Life I Led”

L. 22: “bombs not falling in cambodia”: Cambodia, which in 1970 became the Khmer Republic, was a major battlefield in the Vietnam War (1954–75).

“The Way I Feel”

This poem provided the title for a poetry with jazz album Giovanni released in 1975.

L. 19: “roberta flack”: Roberta Flack (1940–), pop singer who had several hits in the 1970s, including “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face.” Flack also wrote the liner notes for Giovanni’s album The Way I Feel.

“The Laws of Motion (for Harlem Magic)”

Esquire magazine originally requested that Giovanni provide words/dialogue for a series of paintings by a young painter. Harlem Magic was the name of the exhibition.

Stanza 5: “Professor Micheau”: Lewis Michaux.

“Always There Are the Children”

This poem was written for the United Nations’ first World Food Conference in 1974, held in Rome.

Cotton Candy on a Rainy Day

Cotton Candy on a Rainy Day was published on October 25, 1978, and its sales were quite strong. By the time it appeared, Giovanni had moved with her young son back to Cincinnati to help care for her father, who had suffered a stroke. The volume was dedicated to him.

“Cotton Candy on a Rainy Day”

Giovanni frequently describes the incident that gave rise to this poem when she reads it in live performances: One rainy day before she had moved to New York, she took her nephew, Christopher, to the Cincinnati Zoo. When they tried to buy some cotton candy, the vendor did not want to sell it because the rain would make it melt. The image and the vendor’s denial of life’s mutability stayed with the poet.

L. 49: “as sweet as you are”: “Stay As Sweet As You Are,” written by Harry Revel and Mack Gordon, was in the film College Rhythm and was recorded by Ruth Etting in 1934. It was later covered by Nat “King” Cole (1919–65).

L. 50: “in my corner”: “Stay in My Corner” was a 1969 hit single by the Dells.

L. 51: “just a little bit longer”: “Stay (Just a Little Bit Longer)” was a 1960 hit single by Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs; it was subsequently covered by artists such as the Four Seasons, the Hollies, and Chaka Khan.

L. 52: “don’t change baby baby don’t change”: “Don’t Change Your Love” was a 1968 hit single by the Five Stairsteps.

“Introspection”

L. 11: “Ian Smith”: Ian Douglas Smith (1919–), former prime minister of Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), fought against the forces of African nationalism and staunchly supported apartheid in South Africa.

“Forced Retirement”

L. 31: “Namath”: Joe Namath (1943–), football phenomenon who played for the New York Jets and, for one season, for the Los Angeles Rams; he retired in 1977.

L. 31: “Ali”: Muhammad Ali (1942–), heavyweight boxing champion (1964–67, 1974–78, 1978–79); he retired in December 1981.

“Boxes”

Ll. 26–27: “muhammad ali…leon spinks relieved him”: Muhammad Ali (1942–) held the heavyweight boxing title three times: 1964–67, 1974–78, 1978–79; he lost his title to Leon Spinks (1953–) in February 1978 but regained it that November in their rematch.

“Poem”

L. 20: “the president of the united states”: Jimmy Carter (1924–), thirty-ninth President of the United States (1977–81).

L. 21: “Faith not deeds”: Carter was a born-again Christian.

L. 23: “larry flynt”: Larry Flynt (1942–), head of the Hustler Magazine publishing company, was the victim of a 1978 assassination attempt that left him paralyzed.

L. 42: “nixon”: Richard M. Nixon (1913–94), thirty-seventh President of the United States (1969–74).

L. 44: “humphrey’s funeral”: Hubert H. Humphrey (1911–78), thirty-eighth vice president (1965–69), was twice an unsuccessful presidential candidate, losing to Richard M. Nixon (in 1968) and then to Jimmy Carter (in 1976).

L. 45: “opened his house”: Richard Nixon’s birthplace in Yorba Linda, California.

L. 48: “anita bryant”: Anita Bryant (1940–), singer, Miss America runner-up, and orange juice saleswoman whose antigay crusade in 1976–77 ultimately strengthened the gay rights movement and destroyed Bryant’s marriage and career.

L. 49: “carter or nixon”: See preceding notes.

Ll. 58–59: “city…garbage can”: Perhaps a reference to the 1974 sanitation workers’ strike in New York.

“Fascinations”

L. 31: “con edison after all went out”: A reference to the black out in New York on the July 13 and 14, 1977.

“The Beep Beep Poem”

Ll. 11–12: “understand…troopers”: A reference to the May 18, 1970, incident at Kent State University in which four student protesters were shot and killed by National Guardsmen.

L. 27: “encore american and worldwide news”: The Black newsmagazine Encore American & Worldwide News, to which Giovanni was a regular contributor.

“A Poem for Ed and Archie”

Ed ran a lecture series at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and Archie was his student assistant.

“Poem (for EMA)”

EMA are the initials of Elizabeth “Liz” M. Armstrong, a friend of the Giovanni family.

“Winter”

L. 8: “Father John’s Medicine”: A cough medicine, the principal ingredient of which is cod-liver oil, once very popular and still available.

“A Response (to the rock group Foreigner)”

Foreigner was formed in 1976 as a collaboration between musicians formerly associated with other groups, both British and American. Their first album, released in 1977 and titled Foreigner, sold over four million copies in the United States alone. One of the hit singles on the album was “Cold As Ice.”

“Being and Nothingness (to quote a philosopher)”

Being and Nothingness is the title of the 1943 classic work on existentialism by Jean-Paul Sartre (1905–80).

“That Day”

Giovanni stated in an interview with me that this poem is written to the rhythm of a song by Johnny Taylor (1938–2000) entitled “Your Love Is Rated X.”

Those Who Ride the Night Winds

Published in 1983, Those Who Ride the Night Winds marks Giovanni’s innovation of a new “lineless” poetic form in which word groups are separated from each other by ellipses rather than line breaks. This new form retains the rhythmic effects essential to Giovanni’s conscious use of the elements associated with an oral tradition; at the same time, it enables a more expansive treatment of subject matter than is generally possible in free verse. Giovanni has said that she developed this form to question the absolutism and complacency which she saw as characteristic of public discourse in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Of the twenty-nine poems composing Night Winds, twenty employ this lineless form, which she has continued to use extensively, while nine are written in the free verse characteristic of her earlier volumes.

The volume was originally divided into two sections: “Night Winds” and “Day Trippers”; “Love: Is a Human Condition” is the first poem of the latter section, which takes its name from the title of a hit single by the Beatles.

“Charting the Night Winds”

This poem constituted the preface of the original volume.

Stanza 4: “Telstar”: Although Telstar was not the first communications satellite, it is undoubtedly the best known. It was launched on July 10, 1962, allowing live television from the United States to be received in France.

Stanza 5: “State to poison Socrates”: The ancient philosopher Socrates (469–399 B.C.E.) was convicted of corrupting the morals of Athenian youth and espousing religious heresies; he refused all efforts to save his life and drank the fatal hemlock given him by the State. See Plato’s Apology.

Stanza 5: “Copernicus to recant”: Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543) is generally considered the founder of modern astronomy. He postulated that the earth rotates on its axis once a day, that it travels around the sun once yearly, and that the sun is the center of the universe. These ideas ran completely counter to the prevailing geocentric ideas of the Middle Ages. Copernicus did not recant; but he also had no interest in publishing his ideas because he was a perfectionist who thought he should test and retest his hypotheses. In fact, Copernicus died without knowing the repercussions of his work. Giovanni probably means Galileo Galilei (1564–1642), who subscribed to Copernicus’s theory, ran afoul of the Inquisition, and was convicted of heresy. Not until 1992 did the Catholic Church, through Pope John Paul II, admit to error in its treatment of Galileo—but not to having been wrong.

Stanza 5: “McCarthy”: Joseph R. McCarthy (1908–57), a U.S. senator from Wisconsin who gained notoriety for his witch hunting of suspected “Communists” from 1950 to 1954.

Stanza 5: “I am…many things”: A line from Lewis Carroll’s “The Walrus and the Carpenter” in Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There (1872).

“Lorraine Hansberry: An Emotional View”

Lorraine Hansberry (1930–65) was a Chicago-born activist and playwright whose A Raisin in the Sun was the first play by an African American woman to be produced on Broadway.

Stanza 2: “sculpt David”: The statue David is generally considered the greatest work of Michelangelo (1475–1564), the Italian sculptor, poet, and painter.

Stanza 2: “like Charles White”: The African American artist Charles White (1918–79).

Stanza 4: “from 1619”: The first African settlers—numbering twenty—in North America arrived on August 20, 1619, in Jamestown, Virginia, where they were exchanged by the Dutch ship’s captain for food.

Stanza 4: “Little Linda Brown”: Linda Carol Brown (1943–) was born in Topeka, Kansas. When she reached school age, her father, Oliver Brown, tried to enroll her in the all-white Sumner School, the school closest to their home. His name became the name of the plaintiff in what was to be the landmark case Brown vs. Board of Education, which challenged the structure of segregation first legalized in 1896.

Stanza 4: “Dr. King”: Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–68).

Stanza 4: “in Montgomery”: The Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955–56), which was sparked by Rosa Parks’s refusal to move to the back of the bus provided the occasion for Dr. King’s emergence as a Civil Rights leader. Because King was relatively new to Montgomery, having been appointed to the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in 1954, he was considered by experienced members of the NAACP such as E. D. Nixon to be an ideal leader for the boycott (he had no history with the city’s white citizens). King was named president of the Montgomery Improvement Association, the organizational force behind the boycott. The boycott was ultimately successful, although not until the case had gone all the way to the Supreme Court, which upheld a lower court’s order for the city to desegregate its buses.

Stanza 4: “Emmett Till”: Emmett Louis Till (1941–55). Till, a Chicago boy who was visiting relatives in Money, Mississippi, was violently murdered and his body mutilated by Roy Bryant and J. W. Milam. When Till’s mother, Mamie Till Bradley, decided to publicize the photograph of Emmett’s body and to hold an open-casket funeral because she wanted “the world to see” what had been done to her son, the world “saw” and was outraged. Till was not the first victim of white southern racism, but he was possibly the most widely recognized, and his death galvanized the Civil Rights movement. The Montgomery Bus Boycott, which began in just months after Till’s death in August 1955, was in some ways one of the results of that death.

Stanza 4: “Cuba…during the missile crisis”: The Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. After the United States detected the construction of missile launching sites by the Soviet Union in Cuba, President Kennedy ordered a naval blockade to surround Cuba until the Soviets agreed to dismantle the sites.

Stanza 4: “airlifted…to West Berlin”: During the 1948–49 Soviet land and water blockade of West Berlin, the United States and other Western powers airlifted supplies to the city.

“Hands: For Mother’s Day”

Stanza 3: “the mother of Emmett Till”: Mamie Till Bradley Mobley (1922–2003). See note to “Lorraine Hansberry,” above.

Stanza 3: “Nancy Reagan”: Nancy Davis Reagan (1921–), wife of Ronald Reagan (1911–), fortieth president of the United States (1981–89). Shortly after he took office, he was shot in an assassination attempt; he recovered quickly.

Stanza 3: “Betty Shabazz”: Activist, nurse, and educator, Betty Shabazz (1936–97) was present when her husband, Malcolm X, was assassinated in the Audubon Ballroom in New York City.

Stanza 3: “Jacqueline Kennedy”: Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis (1929–94) was riding in the limousine with her husband, President John F. Kennedy (1917–63), when he was fatally shot. The images of his widow in a bloodstained pink suit and with her two small children at the funeral are indelibly etched in the memories of several generations of Americans.

Stanza 3: “Coretta King”: Coretta Scott King (1929–), widow of Martin Luther King, Jr., has continued to carry out his mission since his death by assassination in 1968.

Stanza 3: “Ethel Kennedy”: Ethel S. Kennedy (1928–), social activist and humanitarian, was widowed when her husband, the presidential hopeful Robert F. Kennedy (1925–68), was assassinated.

Stanza 7: “Star Trek’s Spock”: Spock, who has a Vulcan father and a human mother, was one of the most popular characters of the original Star Trek television series. He was played by Leonard Nimoy.

“This Is Not for John Lennon (and this is not a poem)”

Stanza 2: “it’s not about John Lennon”: John Lennon (1940–80), singer and songwriter who some would argue was the creative genius behind the Beatles, was shot and killed outside the Dakota Apartments in New York City.

Stanza 2: “the man who killed him”: Mark David Chapman (1955–) came to New York from Hawaii with the chief aim of killing Lennon. After pleading guilty, he was sentenced to twenty years in prison.

Stanza 2: “Andy Warhol”: American artist and filmmaker Andy Warhol (1928–87).

Stanza 2: “Our beloved mayor”: Ed Koch (1924–) served three terms as mayor of New York (1979–89).

Stanza 3: “Newton”: Sir Isaac Newton (1642–1727), mathematician and physicist, one of whose laws of motion—“for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction”—is quoted later in this stanza. Tradition has it that Newton’s conception of the force of gravity was the result of his seeing an apple fall in his orchard.

Stanza 3: “David Rockefeller”: David Rockefeller (1915–), son of John D. Rockefeller, Jr., former president and CEO of Chase Manhattan, now a philanthropist and supporter of the arts.

Stanza 3: “Jerry Falwell”: Jerry Falwell (1933–), is a fundamentalist and evangelist who initiated the Moral Majority and founded what is today known as Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia.

Stanza 3: “Chuck Willis”: Chuck Willis (1928–58) was a singer and songwriter most often associated with the Stroll, a dance popular during the 1950s. He had a number of hit singles, including a pop version of the old folk song “C. C. Rider.” He died from peritonitis following surgery for bleeding ulcers.

Stanza 3: “Johnny Ace”: John Marshall Alexander, Jr., a.k.a. Johnny Ace (1929–54), popular rhythm and blues singer whose premature, bizarre death (reputedly an accident when he was playing Russian roulette) sustained his reputation long after he died.

Stanza 3: “Sam Cooke”: Sam Cooke (1931–64) was a popular and influential singer who emerged in the 1950s as a gospel star and then began recording popular songs, including the megahits “You Send Me” and “Wonderful World.” His influence on soul music as well as on many of its best-known performers cannot be overstated. “A Change Is Gonna Come,” recorded in February 1964, was his last great ballad. Controversy still surrounds his violent death.

Stanza 3: “Otis Redding”: Otis Redding (1941–67), one of the greatest soul singers and songwriters of all time, was killed in an airplane crash in Madison, Wisconsin. Although some people aboard survived the crash, Redding and four members of his backup group, the Bar-Kays, were killed; Giovanni has stated her belief that the crash was not an accident.

Stanza 3: “now we can call this game exactly what it is”: Slight variation on a line from the hit song “Rock Steady,” as written and recorded by Aretha Franklin. The original line is “Let’s call this song exactly what it is.”

Stanza 3: “Anybody want a ticket to ride?”: “Ticket to Ride” was a 1965 hit by the Beatles.

“Mirrors (for Billie Jean King)”

The poem was occasioned by the 1981 palimony suit brought against the tennis star Billie Jean King (1943–) by her former secretary and lover, Marilyn Barnett.

Stanza 4: “only Dick and Jane”: Dick and Jane was an illustrated book series used as standard school texts from which it is estimated more than eighty-five million people learned to read from the 1930s through the 1960s. The Dick and Jane texts presented a white, homogeneous, middle-class world in which nothing bad (and nothing exciting) ever happened.

Stanza 4: “Ozzie and Harriet”: An ABC situation comedy that ran from 1952 to 1966, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet featured the real-life Nelson family. It was the television equivalent of the Dick and Jane primers.

Stanza 4: “Pillow Talk is only a movie…or a song by Sylvia”: The 1959 movie Pillow Talk starred Doris Day and Rock Hudson. The hit single “Pillow Talk” was released in 1973 by Sylvia Robinson under the name Sylvia. Robinson, who had appeared in the 1950s as one half of the Mickey and Sylvia duo, went on to create Sugarhill Records, which played a major role in introducing the world to rap music.

Stanza 5: “Like Humpty Dumpty”: In the Mother Goose story, Humpty-Dumpty shatters when he falls—because he is an egg.

Stanza 6: “because he robbed…poor”: The classic example is Robin Hood.

Stanza 6: “It Was A Mistake”: When Barnett outed King through the palimony suit, King, who had kept her relationships with women private, initially acknowledged the relationship with Barnett but called it “a mistake.” Not until 1998 did King publicly share her sexual preference, but she has since become an advocate for gay rights.

Stanza 8: “embraced…Medusa”: In Greek mythology, Medusa was a beautiful young woman whose hair was her most remarkable asset. When she made the mistake of competing in beauty with Athena, the goddess transformed Medusa’s hair into hissing serpents. Medusa became a monster so frightening to gaze upon that anyone who did was turned into stone.

“Linkage (for Phillis Wheatley)”

Phillis Wheatley (1753?–84) was born in the Gambia, West Africa. Because she was the first African American to publish a book, she is generally regarded as the founder of the African American literary tradition. A victim of the slave trade, she was brought from Africa to Boston, Massachusetts, when she was about seven years old. She was bought by John and Susanna Wheatley, who named her for the ship on which she had been transported. Although she was originally purchased to be a domestic worker, the Wheatleys recognized her aptitude for learning and allowed their daughter to tutor her.

Stanza 1: “leaving Senegal”: During the transatlantic slave trade, the Senegambia region was an important source of slaves. It was subsequently colonized by the French and the British and evolved into two countries, modern-day Senegal and Gambia.

Stanza 2: “the children of Hester Prynne”: Hester Prynne is the heroine of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Scarlet Letter (1850).

Stanza 2: “The block…stood upon”: The auction block.

Stanza 3: “Hagar…Abraham”: Hagar, an Egyptian servant, was given to Abraham by his wife, Sarah, to be his concubine because Sarah was unable to have children. Hagar had a son, Ishmael, but when Sarah miraculously became pregnant and herself had a son, Isaac, she expelled Hagar and Ishmael from the household. See Genesis 16:1–6 and Genesis 21:8–21.

Stanza 5: “clitorectomies…infibulations”: Female circumcision is still practiced in a number of African countries.

Stanza 6: “How could she…in this Land”: Wheatley has sometimes been criticized for seeming to fail to express outrage at the institution of slavery; the specific poem suggested here is “On Being Brought from Africa to America.” The recovery of her letters has made clear that Wheatley did in fact denounce and decry slavery but that her poetry was written with an understanding of the prejudices and power of the white audience who would read it. Giovanni, of course, is offering a different perspective altogether.

Stanza 6: “cheer George Washington his victory”: In her poem “To His Excellency General Washington.”

Stanza 6: “Harriet Tubman”: Harriet Tubman (c. 1820–1913) was the most famous conductor on the Underground Railroad.

Stanza 6: “Sojourner Truth”: Sojourner Truth (1797–1883) escaped from slavery and became an important preacher, abolitionist, and activist for women’s rights.

“Charles White”

The work of African American artist Charles White (1918–79) celebrates Black Americans.

L. 31: “Johnetta”: Johnetta Fletcher, niece of the family friend Flora Alexander and a childhood friend of Giovanni.

“The Drum (for Martin Luther King, Jr.)”

Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–68). See also the earlier poems “Reflections on April 4, 1968” and “The Funeral of Martin Luther King, Jr.”.

Stanza 1: “The Pied Piper”: The legend of the Pied Piper of Hameln comes to us from the Grimm Brothers as well as from “The Pied Piper of Hamlin” by the poet Robert Browning (1812–89), where Hameln is anglicized to Hamlin.

Stanza 3: “Kunta Kinte”: The central character in Alex Haley’s Roots (1976). Haley (1921–92) learned as a child that his family history included an African ancestor named Kunta Kinte.

Stanza 3: “Thoreau listened”: Henry David Thoreau (1817–62), American writer and activist. In his most famous work, Walden (1854), Thoreau wrote, “Why should we be in such desperate haste to succeed, and in such desperate enterprises? If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer.”

Stanza 3: “King said just say”: King preached a sermon entitled “The Drum Major Instinct” on February 4, 1968, just two months before he was assassinated. Excerpts from it were played during his funeral service. The famous section from which Giovanni is quoting reads as follows: “Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice; say that I was a drum major for peace; I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter. I won’t have money to leave behind. I won’t have the fine and luxurious things of life to leave behind. But I just want to leave a committed life behind.” (From The Essential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr., ed. James Melvin Washington [San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1986], p. 267.

“A Poem on the Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy”

U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy (1925–68), a presidential candidate, was shot in Los Angeles on June 5, 1968, and died the next day. See also the earlier poem “Records”.

In an interview with me, Giovanni stated that her poem had been influenced by a poem by the Nigerian poet J.P. Clark (1935–). Quite probably this is the title poem from his collection Casualties: Poems 1966–68, which focuses on the Nigerian-Biafran War.

“Eagles (a poem for Lisa)”

The poem is for the daughter of Giovanni’s good friend Lillian Pierce Benbow, fifteenth national president (1971–75) of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. Giovanni was inducted into the organization as an honorary member during Benbow’s presidency.

“Flying Underground (for the children of Atlanta)”

This poem was occasioned by the Atlanta child murders of 1979–81.

Stanza 3: “if I was Tom…Sawyer”: Title character of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, first novel by Mark Twain (1835–1910). In the second chapter, Tom is facing the chore of whitewashing the picket fence around his yard.

Beginning in the summer of 1979, when the bodies of two African American boys were found, fear spread through the black community in Atlanta. Not until two years and twenty murders later was the Atlanta Child Murder case officially closed with the arrest of twenty-three-year-old Wayne Williams, also an African American.

“Her Cruising Car: A Portrait of Two Small Town Girls”

The “Two Small Town Girls” to which the title refers are Giovanni herself and Frankie Lennon in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Stanza 3: “like Richard Nixon”: Richard M. Nixon (1913–94), thirty-seventh President of the United States (1969–74), was forced to resign in August 1974 after three articles of impeachment had been brought against him because of his participation in a massive cover-up of illegal activities, including wiretapping and corporate payoffs for political favors.

Stanza 3: “John McEnroe”: John McEnroe (1959–), winner of seven grand slam tennis titles, is perhaps best remembered for the temper tantrums he threw during matches.

Stanza 4: “Newton”: Sir Isaac Newton (1642–1727), mathematician and physicist, one of whose laws of motion is quoted here.

Stanza 5: “Darwin”: Charles Darwin (1809–82), author of On the Origin of Species (1859).

Stanza 5: “Galápagos”: Among the many places Darwin visited on his cruise of the South American coast and Australia (1831–36) aboard the H.M.S. Beagle.

Stanza 6: “going to St. Ives”: A reference to the nursery rhyme “As I was going to St. Ives, I met a man with seven wives. Every wife had seven sacks, every sack had seven cats, every cat had seven kitts. Kitts, cats, sacks, wives, how many were going to St. Ives?”

Stanza 6: “traveled to Skookum”: A reference to a children’s story about a man who asks people along the way if they will keep his bag while he goes to Skookum; no one is willing, so he ultimately must carry the bag with him.

Stanza 6: “the Little Red Hen”: A reference to the children’s story of the Little Red Hen, who had to do all the work herself and could get no help from any of her friends.

Stanza 6: “the Engine That Could”: The classic children’s story by Watty Piper, first published in 1930, features a Little Blue Engine whose determination—“I think I can, I think I can”—enables it to climb impossible hills.

Stanza 7: “We were born…same hospital”: Although Giovanni grew up in Cincinnati, she was born in Knoxville in Old Knoxville General Hospital. Her parents, Yolande and Gus, were good friends with Frankie’s parents, Estelle and Dusty, who were, however, much more affluent than the Giovannis.

Stanza 9: “Thomas Wolfe was wrong”: Perhaps a reference to the novel You Can’t Go Home Again by Thomas Wolfe (1900–38).

“The Cyclops in the Ocean”

This poem was prompted by Tropical Storm Dennis in 1981, the first hurricane Giovanni experienced firsthand.

Stanza 1: “cyclops…meets no Ulysses”: A reference to Ulysses’ memorable encounter with the Cyclops in the Odyssey.

“Harvest (for Rosa Parks)”

Rosa Parks (1913–) is generally regarded as the mother of the modern Civil Rights movement because her refusal to move to the back of the bus on December 1, 1955, led to her arrest and sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., gained national recognition when he was asked to be the spokesperson for and leader of the boycott.

Stanza 2: “in Tuskegee”: Mrs. Parks was born and spent her early childhood years in Tuskegee, Alabama.

Stanza 2: “married…at nineteen”: Mrs. Parks married Raymond Parks, a barber, in 1932.

Stanza 3: “Colored people couldn’t…No”: These lines describe the realities of living in the segregated South.

Stanza 3: “My husband…belonged”: Both Mrs. Parks and her husband, now deceased, became active members of the local chapter of the NAACP. Raymond Parks helped with the efforts in the 1930s to free the Scottsboro Boys.

In 1930 in Scottsboro, Alabama, nine black youths, ranging in age from thirteen to twenty-one, were accused of having raped two white girls on a freight train—despite the lack of medical evidence of rape. The first young man to be brought to trial was convicted, as were the others in subsequent trials. The young men had no legal counsel until the day of the first trial, when two lawyers volunteered. The Scottsboro case was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court three different times between 1931 and 1937. In 1937, the Supreme Court reversed the earlier convictions of five of the young men, and by 1950 the others were free. Not until 1976 was the last one cleared, when Governor George C. Wallace signed the pardon for his having escaped while on parole in 1948.

Stanza 3: “Double Victory”: “Victory at home and abroad” became a slogan among African Americans during World War II. It signified the fact that for Black Americans, who constantly struggled against the violence bred by racism, there was a war in the United States as much as one abroad.

Stanza 3: “I was elected Secretary”: Mrs. Parks served as secretary to the local chapter of the NAACP from 1943 to 1956.

Stanza 4: “Maxwell Air Base”: Maxwell Air Force Base, just outside Montgomery, Alabama, is the national center of airpower education.

Stanza 4: “That Colvin girl had been arrested”: In March 1955, Claudette Colvin, a fifteen-year-old high school student, had been arrested for refusing to give her bus seat to a white passenger. E. D. Nixon, president of the local chapter of the NAACP, with whom Mrs. Parks worked closely, decided against organizing a formal boycott around the Colvin case, but the group’s leaders were waiting for the “right” test case.

Stanza 4: “forty years old”: In December 1955 Mrs. Parks was actually close to being forty-three (her birthday is February 4, 1913).

Stanza 6: “If I have children…why I moved to Detroit”: Mrs. Parks has no children. After the boycott ended her role in it made it difficult for her to find work, and Raymond Parks was ill. In 1957 the couple moved with Mrs. Parks’s mother to Detroit.

Stanza 7: “other than her feet…were tired”: In the mythologizing of Mrs. Parks’s role, the notion emerged that she refused to move because her feet were tired; Giovanni finds this idea especially irksome.

“Reflections/On a Golden Anniversary”

This poem was originally written for Max and Dorian Washington, parents of Giovanni’s friend Nancy Pate.

“Resignation”

Giovanni said in an interview with me that the rhythm of this poem is that of “Love Is So Simple,” a 1968 song by the Dells from their album There Is. See also the explicit reference to the song in lines 47–48.

“I Am She (For Nancy)”

Nancy is Nancy Pate, Giovanni’s childhood friend from Knoxville.

“The Room With the Tapestry Rug”

In an interview with me, Giovanni stated that this poem was for and about Miss Alfredda Delaney, Giovanni’s English teacher for three years at Austin High School in Knoxville.

“Love Thoughts”

L1. 7–9: “Aretha…let me”: “Ain’t No Way,” which was written by Aretha Franklin’s sister, Carolyn, was recorded on the album Lady Soul, released in 1968.

“A Song for New-Ark”

This poem was originally written for the twenty-fifth anniversary issue of NewArk Magazine.

Occasional Poems

Broadside: “Poem of Angela Yvonne Davis (October 16, 1970)”

Giovanni wrote this poem to be sold as a broadside to help raise money for Angela Y. Davis’s legal fees. The poem was a part of the international “Free Angela” movement, which erupted shortly after Davis was arrested in New York in October 1970.

Angela Davis (1944–) first gained public attention when her membership in the Communist Party was revealed and used as a reason for dismissal from her faculty position in the philosophy department at UCLA. She drew increasing attention when she became more active with the Black Panthers and with prison inmates, especially George Jackson (1941–71) and the “Soledad Brothers” at Soledad Prison. After Jackson was killed by prison guards during an alleged escape attempt, his brother Jonathan took guns from Davis’s home and went to the Marin County Courthouse, where his attempt to take hostages ended in his own death and the deaths of three other people. Davis had acquired the guns for self-protection after she received death threats; they were registered. Nonetheless, after the guns were traced to Davis, a federal warrant for her arrest was issued; she went underground before the warrant could be served. Despite the absence of evidence that Davis herself had committed any crime, the FBI placed her on its Ten Most Wanted list on August 18, 1970. She was found about two months later in New York and extradited to California, where she was charged with kidnapping, conspiracy, and murder, and put in jail without bail. She was eventually acquitted of all charges.

Giovanni was not actually to meet Angela Davis until 2001, at Toni Morrison’s seventieth birthday party. But as Giovanni states in Gemini, “I fell completely and absolutely in love with the image and idea of an Angela Yvonne” (p. 71).

L. 8: “children in birmingham”: A reference to the 1963 bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, in which four young children were killed and twenty-one people injured. Birmingham was Davis’s hometown, and she knew the girls who were killed.

Ll. 10–12: “schwerner,/chaney/and Goodman”: Michael Schwerner (1940–64), James E. Chaney (1943–64), and Andrew Goodman (1943–64) were Civil Rights activists who worked in Black voter registration in Mississippi and were murdered by members of the Ku Klux Klan, with the complicity of law enforcement officers. After a massive search, including 200 naval personnel, their bodies were found buried not far from Philadelphia, Mississippi. Despite the fact that everyone—including the Federal Bureau of Investigation—knew who the killers were, it was three years before Neshoba County Sheriff Lawrence Rainey, Chief Deputy Sheriff Cecil Price, and five others were convicted on federal charges of violating the civil rights of the three. No state charges were ever filed.

L. 44: “betty shabazz”: Hajj Bahiyah Betty Shabazz (1936–97), educator and widow of Macolm X, later Al Hajj Malik Al-Shabazz (1925–65).

L. 50: “no more forget that staccato”: Betty Shabazz witnessed her husband’s assassination, which happened in view of a large audience at New York’s Audubon Ballroom.

L. 52: “jonathan’s face…george’s letters”: Jonathan and George Jackson.

Ll. 54–55: “Beverly/axelrod”: Beverly Axelrod (1924–2002) was an activist and lawyer whose most famous clients were the Black Panther leader Eldridge Cleaver and Jerry Rubin, cofounder of the Youth International Party.

L. 57: “water and sky and paris”: Possibly a reference to the fact that Davis had spent her junior year (as a student at Brandeis University) abroad, studying at the Sorbonne.

L. 59: “a german?”: Possibly a reference to Davis’s graduate study (1965–67) at the Johann Wolfgang von Goethe University in Frankfurt, Germany.

L. 97: “i went communist”: Davis joined the Communist Party on June 22, 1968.

L. 99: “why howard johnson’s”: During her two months of hiding, Davis stayed at a Howard Johnson’s motel in New York City.

L. 120: “harriet tubman”: Harriet Tubman (c. 1820–1913) was the most famous conductor on the Underground Railroad. Her numerous forays into the slave states to help slaves escape made her indeed “the first/WANTED Black woman.”

L. 124: “but my helpers trapped me”: Davis’s companion while she was hiding proved to be a police officer.

“A Poem for langston hughes”

This poem was originally written for USA Today, in which it was published August 29, 1991.

“But Since You Finally Asked (A Poem Commemorating the 10th Anniversary of the Slave Memorial at Mount Vernon)”

This poem was written in 1993.

Stanza 1: “Jamestown…in 1619”: The first African settlers—numbering twenty—in North America arrived on August 20, 1619, in Jamestown, Virginia, where they were exchanged by the Dutch ship’s captain for food.

“Stardate Number 18628.190”

This poem was originally published as “Light the Candles” in Essence magazine’s twenty-fifth anniversary issue, May 1995.

Stanza 3: “Precious Lord…take my hand”: Classic gospel song written in 1938 by Thomas A. Dorsey.

Stanza 3: “Amazing Grace”: Well-known song written by a former slave ship captain.

Stanza 3: “Go down, Moses”: Well-known slave spiritual.

Stanza 3: “Marion Anderson”: Marian Anderson (1900–1993), a Philadelphia-born singer, the first African American to perform at the Metropolitan Opera. In 1939 she drew national attention when the Daughters of the American Revolution denied her request to sing in Constitution Hall—because she was Black. Eleanor Roosevelt, then wife of the U.S. president, resigned from the DAR in protest. Subsequently Marian Anderson sang in front of the Lincoln Memorial on Easter Sunday, to an audience of 75,000 people.

Stanza 3: “Leontyne”: Leontyne Price (1927–) is an internationally recognized diva whose opera career blossomed in the 1950s.

Stanza 3: “Battle”: Kathleen Battle (1948–) is a soprano who has appeared at most of the world’s major opera houses.

Stanza 3: “Bessie”: Bessie Smith (1894–37), “Empress of the Blues.”

Stanza 3: “Dinah Washington”: Dinah Washington (1924–63), one of the great blues singers.

Stanza 3: “Etta James saying At Last”: Etta James (1938–) is a rhythm and blues singer whose career peaked in the 1950s and 1960s; one of her early albums is entitled At Last.

Stanza 4: “This is a bus seat”: An allusion to Rosa Parks (1913–). See note to “Harvest,”.

Stanza 4: “telling young Alex”: An allusion to Alex Haley (1921–92), who first heard of his African ancestors through storytelling sessions on long summer nights in Tennessee.

Stanza 6: “CC Riders”: “C. C. Rider” is the title of an old folk song that was transformed into a blues song.

Stanza 7: “Peter Salem and Peter Poor”: Giovanni means Peter Salem (1750?–1816) and Salem Poor (dates uncertain), both African American heroes in the Revolutionary War Battle of Bunker Hill. Peter Salem is credited with killing Major John Pit-cairn. Salem Poor is credited with killing Lieutenant Colonel James Abercrombie; he was cited for heroism by some fourteen officers.

Stanza 7: “the 54th Regiment from Massachusetts”: This all-Black Civil War regiment demonstrated unsurpassed courage in its unsuccessful assault on Confederate forces at Fort Wagner in 1863. The regiment is the subject of the 1989 film Glory.

Stanza 7: “Emmett Till”: Emmett Louis Till (1941–55). See note to “Lorraine Hansberry,”.

Stanza 7: “Medgar Evers”: Medgar Wiley Evers (1925–63), Civil Rights activist and Mississippi field secretary for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), was murdered in the doorway of his home in Jackson, Mississippi, on June 12, 1963.

Stanza 7: “Malcolm X”: Malcolm X, later Al Hajj Malik Al-Shabazz (1925–65), was assassinated on February 21, 1965, at the Audubon Ballroom in New York City.

Stanza 7: “Martin Luther King, Jr.”: Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–68) was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968.

“BROTHER BROTHER BROTHER (the Isley Brothers of Lincoln Heights)”

The Isley Brothers, whose father was a professional singer and mother was a pianist, began singing together in the 1950s. Initially there were four brothers: O’Kelly (1937–86), Rudolph (1939–), Ronald (1941–), and Vernon (?–1954), but the core of the group consisted of three after Vernon was killed in an automobile accident. In the mid-1960s, they were joined by their younger brothers Ernie and Marvin and their cousin Chris Jasper.

Stanza 2: “into the Valley”: Suburban area north of Cincinnati.

Stanza 4: “progress is the most important product”: Advertising slogan used by General Electric.

Stanza 7: “perfecting SHOUT”: “Shout,” a soul music single reflecting gospel roots, was released in 1959 and brought national attention to the group.

Stanza 8: “Joey Dee”: Joey Dee and the Starlighters were a white rock and roll group that had two huge hits, “Peppermint Twist” and “Shout—Part 1.”