Nikki Giovanni was an intriguing complexity of strength and vulnerability, and these shifting aspects of her remarkable literary journey were evinced in her poetry and her political commitments.
One of the nation’s most productive and often controversial poets, Giovanni joined the pantheon of wordsmiths on Monday with her passing, a transition that resonated far and wide. She was still a very young woman when she enrolled at Fisk University, but under the tutelage of John Oliver Killens, she quickly let it be known that she would not be intimidated or bite her tongue when it came to speaking truth to power. Her bold commentaries and steadfast resolve were more than the college was willing to tolerate and she was bounced from campus. But in a few years, she was back with an even stronger determination to assert her political and poetic vision.
Ironically, Giovanni made her transition as the world nearly concludes its centennial celebration of the life and legacy of James Baldwin, a writer and mentor of sorts with whom she shared a feisty and rewarding conversation in the early 1970s on “Soul,” produced by Ellis Haizlip.
RELATED: Nikki Giovanni, poet and literary celebrity, has died at 81
They sparred about issues such as religion, power and morals, and the fate of children, and agreed on and disagreed on a number of things as they both smoked and shared impressions of the Civil Rights Movement. When they discussed sex and sexuality, which for Baldwin was a central place for Black men, Giovanni was silent — but not when it came to the perpetuation of brutality. She was perplexed that a man mistreated by society could come home and mistreat his wife.
“It’s the perpetuation of a terrible syndrome,” Baldwin said. Love, Baldwin asserted, “is not a rational situation.” “But it must be,” Giovanni countered.
Their differences continued for several beats, neither willing to surrender their position. This contentiousness concluded the first hour of a two-hour session.
During the second half, it was mainly Baldwin pontificating and Giovanni, perhaps to keep things moving, nodding in agreement. Ultimately, though, she began to command the moment with an insightful exegesis about the writing and evolution of Chester Himes, citing chapter and verse, and slowly making Baldwin see her point about the essence of Himes’s views.
This was vintage Giovanni, and even Baldwin had to acknowledge her conclusions.
Giovanni’s brilliance is further explored in this paper’s obituary, relaying her highly eventful odyssey, but it’s only an overture to her symphony of creativity.
