A review by seeceeread
Black Feeling, Black Talk / Black Judgement by Nikki Giovanni

You should play run-away-slave / or Mau Mau / These are more in line with your history [...] Grow a natural and practice vandalism / These are useful games • Poem for Black Boys (With Special Love to James)

For the first time, I decided to read my author projects in chronological order by publication date. Giovanni published this at age 25. Based on the introduction (Barbara Crosby details the author's transformation from "an Ayn Rand-reading-Goldwater-supporter" to the militant Black Power mouthpiece of this collection 👀) ... and the overall tone of these poems, I'm in for a wild growth arc with the Year of Nikki.

Part one, with conversational poems aimed at neighbors, lovers, and others, feels juvenile. Giovanni's attempts at lyricism and poetic technique are clumsy, heavy-handed: punny spellings are unnecessarily repeated for overdone propaganda. Missing punctuation makes for flat voice and run-ons. While there are a few shining lines, slurs stifle. Overall, the first half reads as dated and immature.

The second half, Black Judgement, is more tuned to political theory. After the assassination of MLK, "an act of war," the poet committed to "destroy America." Giovanni speaks directly to readers, imploring us towards revolutionary violence. More of her allusions (Nina Simone, The Temptations, Sam Cooke, Gil Scott-Heron ...) stand the test of time, while still leaving me feeling stippled in the sixties. When the poet breaks into personal reflection, she achieves her pinnacle: 𝘕𝘪𝘬𝘬𝘪-𝘙𝘰𝘴𝘢 and 𝘒𝘯𝘰𝘹𝘷𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘦, 𝘛𝘦𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘦 are among her most beloved poems today.