rashundatramble.com

My eyes fixed on Racism 101 in my bookshelf the other day for some reason, which prompted me to check out what Nikki Giovanni has been up to. Her name came up during the VT shootings (she’s a professor at the uni).

Racism 101 is where I gleaned one of my sayings from: To deny your age is to deny you’ve survived. There’s a history between myself and that book. Giovanni was in Memphis for a talk and a book signing. I stood in line for who-knows-how long to get her to sign my copy. She’s a tiny, beautiful, feisty, soulful woman. I chatted her up for a few moments, fumbling for something halfway intelligent to come out of my mouth. I think I floated back to my car after I met her.

After I read the book from cover to cover, twice I think, I made the mistake of lending it to my mom. Special emphasis on “lend.” Imagine my horror when I got the book back from her. Not only had she written her name in it - on the same page that Giovanni signed - but she had also highlighted her way through the book and written her comments in the margins.

Gotta love mom.

In any case, I found a Giovanni gem on the net: Information about a documentary on Giovanni. I’d never heard of it and it doesn’t seem to be available on DVD. Here’s the trailer. Peep Giovanni’s tattoo. I hollered. One person in the trailer noted how Giovanni never seemed to get props like other writers, with some folks painting her with that dang-blasted ABW (Angry Black Woman) brush - hell, even today.

Also, check out Giovanni’s site, especially the videos of her reading her works.

Here’s my fav. I think I had to learn it in school:

Ego Trippin

I was born in the Congo

I walked to the fertile crescent and built the Sphinx

I designed a pyramid so tough that a star

that glows every one hundred years falls into

the center giving divine perfect light

I AM BAD

I sat on the throne

drinking nectar with Allah

I got hot and sent an ice age to Europe

to cool my thirst.

My oldest daughter is Nefertiti

the tears from by birth pains created the Nile

I am a beautiful woman

I gazed on a forest and burned out the

Sahara Desert

With a packet of goat’s meat

and a change of clothes-

I crossed it in two hours

I am a gazelle so swift-

so swift- you can’t catch me

For a birthday present when he was three

I gave my son Hannibal an elephant-

He gave me Rome for Mother’s Day

My strength flows ever on

My son Noah built new/ark and

I stood proudly at the helm

as we sailed on a soft summer day

I turned myself into myself-

and was Jesus!

men intone my loving name

All praises- All praises

I am one who would save

I sowed diamonds in my backyard

My bowels deliver uranium

the filings from my fingernails

are semi-precious jewels

On a trip north I caught a cold and blew my nose

giving oil to the Arab world

I am so hip- even my errors are correct

I sailed east to reach west- and had to round off the

earth as I went

The hair from my head thinned and gold was laid

across three continents

I am so perfect, so divine, so ethereal, so surreal

I cannot be comprehended

except by my permission

I mean … I … can fly

like a bird in the sky..