Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Poet Research Paper
I had to do a research paper on a poet of my choice and I chose, Nikki Giovanni. It was our job to connect the poet's life to their works. Nikki Giovanni is an African American poet. Researching her was a direct link to my essential question. Being an African American poet in her poems she exhibits the hardships and suffering that I see common in many works by African American writers.
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Here is one of her poems that are linked to my essential question...
Nikki-Rosa
Childhood rememberances are
always a drag if you're Black
you always remember things like
living in Woodlawn with no inside toilet
and if you become famous or something
They never talk about how happy
you were to have your mother
all to yourself and how good the
water felt when you got your bath
from one of those
Big tubs that folk in chicago barbeque
in and somehow when you talk
about home
it never gets across how much you
understood their feelings as the
whole family attended meetings
About Hollydale and even though you
remember your biographers never
understand your father's pain as he
sells his stock and another
dream goes
And though your're poor it isn't
poverty that concerns you and
though they fought a lot
it isn't your father's drinking that
makes any difference but only that
Everybody is together and you
and your sister have happy birthdays
and very good Christmasses and I
really hope no white person ever has
cause to write about me
because they never understand
Black love is Black wealth and they'll
probably talk about my hard childhood
and never understand that
all the while I was quite happy
How do you think that this relates to my essential question?
I can see how it relates to your EQ because it depicts the hardships of the African American. I loved it because the speaker is someone that I admire. In the world today we are too materialistic and we do not treasure the HAPPY BIRTHDAYS OR THE MERRY CHRISTMASS. All we care about is money and cars and houses. The speaker did not care if there was poverty all they wanted was their family to be together. It says it all when the speaker says that "Black love is Black wealth" and I think that the Black is Capitalized because it needs an emphasis that it is Black and not any other color. The Black man knows what to cherish and what is not needed. I really like that and wish that we could be like this today but it is sad to say that we are not and will probably never be again.
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