Before the Tragedy at Virginia Tech, She Was Ego Tripping
Sunday, June 10, 2007
The murder of 32 students and faculty at Virginia Tech (VT) is still fresh in minds and hearts of many in the United States. The pain and magnitude of the loss of life is not likely to be forgotten anytime soon. As the tragedy unfolded and the analysis of events were broadcast by the media, the world was either introduced or re-introduced to VT English professor, Nikki Giovanni.
During the Black Power/Anti-War movements of the sixties and seventies, Nikki Giovanni was one of the world's most prolific poets. There was something about her and her spirit that hypnotized and mesmerized. I remember that I wasn't supposed to read her poems because some of them contained "bad words". I remember her speaking about having her son, Tommy, out of wedlock, intentionally, she was awesome and different.
Before spoken word and poetry slams of today, there was Nikki Giovanni and here is one of my favorite Nikki Giovanni poems...
Ego Tripping (there may be a reason why)
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 only 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 my birth pains
created the nile
I am a beautiful woman
I gazed on the 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 the one who would save
I sowed diamonds in my back yard
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 west to reach east 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...