THE POET AS STORYTELLER: ‘LIVING LEGEND’ NIKKI GIOVANNI REFLECTS ON LOVE, GRIEF, AND MUSIC
Interviewed by Jessica Gigot
Nikki Giovanni is a world-renowned poet, writer, commentator, activist, and educator. One of the most widely read contemporary American poets and one of Oprah’s 25 “Living Legends,” she prides herself on being “a Black American, a daughter, a mother, a professor of English.” Giovanni is a University Distinguished Professor at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia. I recently spoke with her about the breadth of her work and the stories she represents in her poems, essays, teachings, and spoken word recordings.
JG: You were a strong, outspoken, and prominent voice for equality and civil rights in the 1960s and 70s, and I know you remain so. In reading your most recent book of love poems (Bicycles, 2009), we see a gentler and more relaxed side to you. I particularly like the reflective poem “In Simpler Times” and the final, powerful poem “We Are Virginia Tech: 16 April 2007.” How did this book come together for you?
NG: I decided to write love poems. There were a lot of sad things going on at that time. “Blackburg Under Siege: 21 August 2006” is the first poem in the book and that was about the murder of two police officers here, which was a diffic