Nikki Giovanni favorite poem listing

[richardmurray]

Denise Adusei [ Executive Director @ Bronx Children's Museum | Creative Visionary | Cultural Curator | Bridge Builder | Author @ MacMillan Publishers ]

author of cesaria feels the beat

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250824967/cesariafeelsthebeat/

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/activity-7271912534159319040-2J6m?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

shared her favorite nikki giovanni poem is Revolutionary Dreams

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/activity-7272586481217454081-aEXm?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

 

If you don't know it, here it is 

 

“Revolutionary Dreams” by Nikki Giovanni
 i used to dream militant                                                                                                                             
dreams of taking                                                                                                                                        
over American to show                                                                                                                               
these white folks how it should be                                                                                                              
done                                                                                                                                                           
i used to dream radical dreams                                                                                                                  
of blowing everyone away with my perceptive powers                                                                              
of correct analysis                                                                                                                                      
i even used to think i’d be the one                                                                                                             
to stop the riot and negotiate the peace                                                                                                    
then i awoke and dug                                                                                                                                 
that if i dreamed natural                                                                                                                             
dreams of being a natural                                                                                                                          
woman doing what a woman                                                                                                                      
does when she’s natural                                                                                                                             
i would have a revolution

https://ia800506.us.archive.org/10/items/my-poem/My-Poem.pdf

 

 

 

[richardmurray]

Nike Marshall's [https://www.am*zon.com/Persistence-Vision-Nike-Binger-Marshall/dp/0984325514]  author of persistence of vision ,favorite Nikki Giovanni words 

1:12:22

 

 

[richardmurray]

Denise Adusei [ Executive Director @ Bronx Children's Museum | Creative Visionary | Cultural Curator | Bridge Builder | Author @ MacMillan Publishers ]

author of cesaria feels the beat

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250824967/cesariafeelsthebeat/

 

shared another favorite nikki giovanni poem, in reference to a renovated library 

https://www.thecity.nyc/2024/12/10/melrose-library-bronx-reopens/

referral

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/activity-7272960998326595585-6WxH?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

 

At a time when there was not tv before 3:00 P.M. 
And on Sunday none until 5:00 
We sat on the front porches watching 
The jfg sign go on and off greeting 
The neighbors, discussion the political 
Situation congratulating the preacher 
On his sermon 
There was always the radio which brought us 
Songs from wlac in nashville and what we would now call 
Easy listening or smooth jazz but when I listened 
Late at night with my portable (that I was so proud of) 
Tucked under my pillow 
I heard nat king cole and matt dennis, june christy and ella fitzgerald 
And sometimes sarah vaughan sing black coffee 
Which I now drink 
It was just called music 
There was a bookstore uptown on gay street 
Which I visited and inhaled that wonderful odor 
Of new books 
Even today I read hardcover as a preference paperback only 
As a last resort 
And up the hill on vine street 
(The main black corridor) sat our carnegie library 
Mrs. Long always glad to see you 
The stereoscope always ready to show you faraway 
Places to dream about 
Mrs. Long asking what are you looking for today 
When I wanted Leaves of Grass or alfred north whitehead 
She would go to the big library uptown and I now know 
Hat in hand to ask to borrow so that I might borrow 
Probably they said something humiliating since southern 
Whites like to humiliate southern blacks 
But she nonetheless brought the books 
Back and I held them to my chest 
Close to my heart 
And happily skipped back to grandmother’s house 
Where I would sit on the front porch 
In a gray glider and dream of a world 
Far away 
I love the world where I was 
I was safe and warm and grandmother gave me neck kissed 
When I was on my way to bed 
But there was a world 
Somewhere 
Out there 
And Mrs. Long opened that wardrobe 
But no lions or witches scared me 
I went through 
Knowing there would be 
Spring

 

referral 

https://www.leonschools.net/cms/lib/FL01903265/Centricity/Domain/2875/A Poem for My Librarian Mrs Long.pdf