Reviews for Selected Poems of Nikki Giovanni

The average rating for Selected Poems of Nikki Giovanni based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2008-04-19 00:00:00 Edward Lewis This is the first poetry volume I've read by Nikki Giovanni, and I've been really impressed with her writing. This book has a nice mix of different types of poems -- great love poems, nostalgic and powerful memories from the first days of the civil rights movement, notes about growing older (she's 65 this year) as a tough feminist and giving the right tools to the next generations, and quite a bit more. Giovanni's plainness of language can be very beautiful, and I appreciate that some poems build a single simple idea or observation. Its rare that the writing is heavy-handed and the subject matter is very human, while also being somewhat surreal and abstract in places. There are certain poem-types in this book that I'm not crazy about (some of the more detailed pieces about, say, Rap Brown of the black panthers which maybe I don't have enough life or context to appreciate) and Giovanni does repeat herself at times, but I find her resolution and stubbornness at building a better world really engaging. One of my favorite poetry books. [Edit]: I'm going to have to downgrade this to three stars. I was reading some of the later parts of this book recently. Nikki's most recent poems are very peculiarly formatted. They are basically paragraph formats with a TON of ellipses replacing line breaks (I assume). It's godawful. Still, first half of this book is very well done.

Review # 2 was written on 2018-10-04 00:00:00 Angel Manuel Castillo This was my first read of any of Ms. Giovanni's literary works. I must say, it hit home. From years past to today, her poems speak volumes to the heart and mind on SO many levels. My favorites: Revolutionary Dreams, The World is Not a Pleasant Place to Be, and A Certain Peace ....to name a few. The one I cherish most, is: The Wonder Woman! Short but reminiscent, encouraging..never stop dreaming.