Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Bicycles: Love Poems
    Bicycles: Love Poems
    Bicycles: Love Poems
    Ebook119 pages47 minutes

    Bicycles: Love Poems

    By Nikki Giovanni

    4/5

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    In her legendary career, artist and activist Nikki Giovanni has established herself as a writer who can entertain and challenge, and a voice for social justice who can inform and inspire in times of national crisis. Controversial, revolutionary, ethereal, or illuminating, her poems about race, Black lives, violence, gender, and family move readers of all ages and backgrounds.

    With BICYCLES, she’s collected poems that serve as a companion to her 1997 LOVE POEMS. An instant classic, that book--romantic, bold, and erotic--expressed notions of love in ways that were delightfully unexpected. In the years that followed, Giovanni experienced losses both public and private. A mother’s passing, a sister’s, too. A massacre on the campus at which she teaches. And just when it seemed life was spinning out of control, Giovanni rediscovered love--what she calls the antidote. Here romantic love--and all its manifestations, the physical touch, the emotional pull, the hungry heart--is distilled as never before by one of our most talented poets. In a time of national crisis or personal crisis, this is a collection that will open minds and change hearts as only the best art can.

     

     

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateOct 6, 2009
    ISBN9780061984099
    Bicycles: Love Poems
    Author

    Nikki Giovanni

    Nikki Giovanni is one of the most decorated poets of our time. She is the recipient of seven NAACP Image Awards, a National Book Award, a Caldecott Honor, a Coretta Scott King Award, and a Grammy nomination. She is the author of three New York Times bestsellers as well as many poetry collections for children and adults. You can visit her online at Nikki-Giovanni.com.

    Read more from Nikki Giovanni

    Related to Bicycles

    Related ebooks

    Poetry For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    Related categories

    Reviews for Bicycles

    4/5

    42 ratings2 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      Appropriately, I bought this book on Valentine's Day, at the Book Mark in Mount Pleasant, killing time after our dinner at China Garden before it was time to pick up Jefferson from free child care at New Life church. Not only is it Nikki, but the cover called to me as a clear echo of her earlier collection, Love Poems, out in '97, which I discovered in college and was the true dawning of my love for her.

      This book of poems is very much the same. The poet is a little older, a little wiser, but still joyful, still with a lust for life. Even in her most sorrowful poems, there is such love underneath the pain.

      Not only do I adore Nikki, I want to be Nikki. I want to be able to react with such grace and such love. And of course, I'd love to be able to write about it so cleverly afterwords. And to bear up so cheekily under a love unrequited! Not for Nikki any stereotypical tearing of hair and rending of garments, but almost... merely, perplexion. That capability I envy, even if it turns out somehow it's faked....
    • 4/5
      The latest collection of poems by Giovanni, who is currently a professor at Virginia Tech. The first and last entries describe the Virginia Tech massacre in 2007, in which a deranged student shot 32 people to death on campus before taking his own life. Most of the other poems are tender statements of love, with the bicycle used as a metaphor, as "love requires trust and balance". A representative example is If Only (which I'll post in its entirety here, as it is also available on the book's page on the HarperCollins web site):If OnlyIf I had never been in your armsNever danced that danceNever inhaled your slightly sweaty odorMaybe I could sleep at nightIf I had never held your handNever been so closeTo the most kissable lips in the universeNever wanted ever so muchTo rest my tongue in your dimpleMaybe I could sleep at nightIf I wasn't so curiousAbout whether or not you snoreAnd when you sleep do you cuddle your pillowWhat you say when you wake upAnd if I tickle youWill you heartedly laughIf this enchantmentThis bewildermentThis longingCould ceaseIf this question I ache to ask could be answeredIf only I could stop dreaming of youMaybe I could sleep at night

    Book preview

    Bicycles - Nikki Giovanni

    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 always smiling

    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

    Enjoying the preview?
    Page 1 of 1