Bicycles
Love Poems
Nikki Giovanni
DEDICATION
Bicycles: because love requires trust and balance
CONTENTS
Dedication
Blacksburg Under Siege: 21 August 2006
In Simpler Times
If Only
Field Notes
Migrations
I Am Jazz
Shoe Jazz Blue Jazz
The 3rd Rail
I Am Confused
My New Car
Dinner At Nine
My Muse
I Am Glass
No Heaven
Alchemical
Your Shower
Good Night
My Sleep
Bicycles
I Like The Dance
I Would Not Be Different
Give It A Go?
Another Day (Revisited)
Christmas Laughter
I Want A Shoe
A Drunken Phone Call
A Substitute For You
I Know The Song
I Am A Mirror
Everything Good Is Simple
Deal Or No Deal
I Provide
Gray Clouds Hover
I Am The Ocean
I Clean
So Enchanted With You
How To Save The World
Free Huey
My Beer
They Think
Why Don’t You Love Me
First Chair
Friends and Lovers
Love (And The Meaning Of Love)
Flight Delay
Travelers
Trash Pans
Letting The Air Out
Fame
Duets
Boiled Blues
Love Luther
A Song For You
Friends In Love
No Translations
Twirling
Good Books
Got A Minute (To Fall In Love?)
Where Do You Enter
Tourism
The Scenic Route
Tree Line
The Artist
A Fish Out of Water
We Are Virginia Tech
An Excerpt from A Good Cry
BABY WEST
BIG MAYBELLE
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Also by Nikki Giovanni
Credits
Copyright
About the Publisher
BLACKSBURG UNDER SIEGE: 21 AUGUST 2006
(for Carolyn Rude)
Not safe…not even all that nice…when you think about it…What mean fraternity boys do with their fists…and drunk fraternity boys do with their penises…barefoot boys do with guns…Whether it’s a redneck screaming “nigger”…or a poet hollering “titties”…illegal and unkind behavior tells someone s/he doesn’t belong…check it…check it out…
Not nice…No…And no reason to feel safe
A good day…someone pointed out…however…to be black…or a woman…and not be hunted…and not have to hold your head down…and not have to quiver…when you pass a man…police…or professional…yet still knowing…at any given moment…you are a target…
“They didn’t move fast enough”…they cried…“They could have done more”…they demanded…“More to let us hold on to our illusions of safe…to let us hold on to our illusion of fair…to let us hold on to our illusions…illusions…illusions”…And whether it was a bullet flying or an animal cracker coming straight at you…it was an attack…And yes…maybe there could be faster motion…faster lockdown…faster dismissal…but hey there is the bigger picture…and after all he didn’t mean it…his leg was sprained…he’s so intelligent…so talented…so special…he didn’t realize his heart was blind…he didn’t understand he was causing pain…Bang! Bang…he sang…I shot you Down but I really didn’t have a gun…and just because you’re dead…doesn’t mean I really did it…
I shot the deputy…hey hey…he sings…but I only pretended with the rest of you
And in the end he was very careful with himself…Sure not to be treated the way he treated McFarland and Sutphin…Avoiding the knockout blow or killer smile he dealt the man who came when he called “Help”…Silencing his victims with death for their goodwill and sense of decency…Or their pity for him…Do all the sane and sober things to protect yourself, Monster…so that you can plead Innocent By Reason of Not Paying Close Attention…Threaten us that you can make Blacksburg not ever be the same again…
But we will be the same…willful ignorance will overpower indignation every time…
That still does not make us nice…and it sure doesn’t make us safe
IN SIMPLER TIMES
I talk to myself
People think I am on my phone
In simpler days
I would have been considered strange
People would feel sorry
For me
And called me Crazy
I would have walked down the street
Carrying brown paper bags
Arguing laughing sometimes
Humming a tune
I am alone
At the kitchen sink
Or behind the wheel
Of my car
Taking the roasted chicken
With root vegetables out of the oven
It’s easy to see
The delight I am taking
In this life
I am in love
IF ONLY
If I had never been in your arms
Never danced that dance
Never inhaled your slightly sweaty odor
Maybe I could sleep at night
If I had never held your hand
Never been so close
To the most kissable lips in the universe
Never wanted ever so much
To rest my tongue in your dimple
Maybe I could sleep at night
If I wasn’t so curious
About whether or not you snore
And when you sleep do you cuddle your pillow
What you say when you wake up
And if I tickle you
Will you heartedly laugh
If this enchantment
This bewilderment
This longing
Could cease
If this question I ache to ask
could be answered
If only I could stop dreaming
of you
Maybe I could sleep
at night
FIELD NOTES
(On You)
3rd and long
I go for it
4th and short
I jump over the pile
Someone hears a moan
That would be me
Someone heard a sigh
That would be you
A pile of sugar
A pile of salt
I dip my finger
And taste
They said
You hadn’t been seen
In over twenty years
They think
You might be
Extinct
I know better
I saw you smile
Rare…yes
But still here
Inviting me
To fall
In love
MIGRATIONS
When the sun returns
to the arctic circle
from its winter rest
The grasses sprout
seducing the winged
and the hoofed
Polar bears and their cubs
must flee
Before the ice
breaks up
Although others begin
a northern j
ourney
The Snow Goose flies
from the Gulf of Mexico
to mate and birth her young
Two million Mongolian Gazelles move
over the tundra where each gives birth
at the same time defying
the will of predators
who would consume
the gazelles’ future
Though only, of course,
to provide nourishment
for their own
young predators
Let’s not judge
too harshly
Salmon swim upstream
jumping falls
and grizzly bears
Grasshoppers
ignoring the advice
Of ants
make music
to celebrate
Winter’s end
Monarch butterflies
leaving the safety
Of Zihuatanejo
forge north
Beginning the longest winged journey
Spring
With only the hope of warmth
and the promise of grasses
They unflinchingly face:
Hunger
Thirst
Predators
Winds
Rains
Uncertainties
As would I
For you
I AM JAZZ
I am jazz
I am cool but not contained
I run the soundtrack
Of your life
You enter me with dissonance
Then command a little rag
There may even be a prayer or two
Somewhere in there
I am jazz
When you are alone
I come to you
Giving you rhythm to work
And rhyme to care
I agree with pure jazz
I am safe for your dog
Cool for the cats
Salt in the pond
For your fish
You need me
Admit it
You need me
SHOE JAZZ BLUE JAZZ
Green shoes
Blue shoes
Red shoes
Good news
Bad news
Suede shoes
No ties
Loose pants
Pink shoes
Shining
White shoes
Whining
All shoes
Dining
On the little ants
Your shoes
Her shoes
My shoes
Good news
His shoes
Those shoes
Miles Davis
All Blues
THE 3RD RAIL
I was running
Running running
I wasn’t in a hurry
’Cause I didn’t have anyplace
To go
I’ve been in love
Before
And I know
The best thing to do
It’s not like I’ve been
Hurt
And there is way more jazz Than blues
When I soundtrack
My life
It’s just that the time
To persuade
And seduce
Runs into Law & Order
Not to mention Monday Night
Football
And I do have book club
Garden club
And though I should give up
I am still trying
To train the dog
I also have a job
And dirty clothes
And dinnertime requirements
So I was running
’Cause there just wasn’t any
More time in the day
But then you smiled
And I smiled back
And not paying enough attention
I stepped on that 3rd rail
I AM CONFUSED
I am confused
I am in a not so much fog
As gray cloud
I cannot read
The landmarks
Let alone
The Danger signs
I do not know
Where I am
Or how I got here
I am lost
I want to find myself
In your arms
MY NEW CAR
I drive
like I have a new car
I don’t want anyone
to bump it
or scratch it
or actually get too close
to it
Stay in your own lane
I want to shout
But I stay satisfyingly cool
I fit in
I relax
I don’t want you to think I think
I have any reason
To be jealous
DINNER AT NINE
I am seated
given a wine
and entrée menu
I smile
and happily talk
I nod my head
and let my hands express
Compliance
Competence
and a gentle but questioning
Compassion
People think I am
on the phone
They recognize
I am in love
I order the ’04 Malbec
the baked mussels
(though my favorite is boiled)
the sautéed soft-shell crab/
a nice green salad
the bread is hot
and the butter soft
I am comfortable
In this little French restaurant
And made welcome
Yet
When my order arrives
The waiter doesn’t understand
Why there is only
me
MY MUSE
I am my own
Muse
I delight me
With my words
Of both wisdom
And wit
I teach myself
So much
Such insight
Into the human
Soul
Such compassion
For the weak and weary
Such utter contempt
For the self-satisfied
I think
What a wonderful world
It would be
If only people
Would listen
To me
I look at the full moon
And bay
Come
Come
Come to me
Let’s explore
A new world
I AM GLASS
I am glass
You can see through me
I’m easily hurt
Any little pebble can cause a scratch
I rise in neither love nor need
If you black me out
I become a mirror
If you open me
I am a part of a door
We are all more than our experiences
And less than our dreams
If you blow your breath on me
I can fog
Then you can write your name Claiming me
For you
For all time
Or
At least
Until the sun shines
NO HEAVEN
How can there be
No Heaven
When rain falls
gently on the grass
When sunshine scampers
across my toes
When corn bakes
into bread
When wheat melts
into cake
When shadows
cool
And owls
call
And little finches
eat upside
down
How can there be
No Heaven
When tears comfort
When dreams caress
When you smile
at me
ALCHEMICAL*
I am the cricket
In the grass
I talk by rubbing
My wings against
My legs
I am calling calling calling