I Wrote a Good Omelet

I wrote a good omelet ... and ate a hot poem ...
after loving you

Buttoned my car ... and drove my coat home ... in the
rain ...
after loving you

I goed on red ... and stopped on green ... floating
somewhere in between ...
being here and being there ...
after loving you

I rolled my bed ... turned down my hair ... slightly
confused but ... I don't care ...
Laid out my teeth ... and gargled my gown ... them I stood
... and laid me down ...
to sleep ...
after loving you

Nikki Giovanni

and i believe
the most beautiful poem
ever heard is your heart
racing
-- Nikki Giovanni

NIKKI GIOVANNI
 

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How do you write a poem
about someone so close
to you that when you say ahhhhh
they say chuuuu

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YOU ARE THERE

i shall save my poems
for the winter of my dreams
i look forward to huddling
in my rocker with my life
i wonder what i'll contemplate
lovers---certainly those
i can remember
and knowing my life
you'll be there

you'll be there in the cold
like a Siamese on my knee
proud purring when you let me stroke you

you'll be there in the rain
like an umbrella over my head
sheltering me from the damp mist

you'll be there in the dark
like a lighthouse in the fog
seeing me through troubled waters

you'll be there in the sun
like coconut oil on my back
to keep me from burning

i shall save a special poem
for you to say
you always made me smile
and even though i cried sometimes
you said i will not let you
down

my rocker and i on winter's porch
will never be sad if you're gone
the winter's cold has been stored
against
you will always be
there

Nikki Giovanni -- from Cotton Candy on a Rainy Day (1978)

 
COTTON CANDY ON A RAINY DAY

Don't look now
I'm fading away
Into the gray of my mornings
Or the blues of every night

Is it that my nails
      keep breaking
Or maybe the corn
      on my second little piggy
Things keep popping out
      on my face
            or
      of my life

It seems no matter how
I try I become more difficult
      to hold
I am not an easy woman
      to want

They have asked
      The psychiatrists       psychologists       politicians and
      social workers
What this decade will be
      known for
There is no doubt       it is
      loneliness

If loneliness were a grape
      the wine would be vintage
If it were a wood
      the furniture would be mahogany
But since it is life       it is
      Cotton Candy
            on a rainy day
The sweet soft essence
      of possibility
Never quite maturing

I have prided myself
On being in the great tradition
      albeit circus
That the show must go on
Though in my community the vernacular is
      One Monkey Don't Stop the Show

We all line up
      at some midway point
To thread our way through
      the boredom and futility
Looking for the blue ribbon and gold medal

Mostly these are seen as food labels

We are consumed by people who sing
      the same old song       STAY:
                  as sweet as you are
                  in my corner
Or perhaps             just a little bit longer
But whatever you do             don't change baby baby don't change
Something needs to change
Everything       some say       will change
I need a change
      of pace       face       attitude and life
Though I long for my loneliness
I know I need something
Or someone
Or ......

I strangle my words as easily as I do my tears
I stifle my screams as frequently as I flash my smile
      it means nothing
I am cotton candy on a rainy day
      the unrealized dream of an idea unborn
I share with the painters the desire
To put a three-dimensional picture
On a one-dimensional surface

Nikki Giovanni -- from Cotton Candy on a Rainy Day (1978)

 
I AM SHE

I am she . . . making rainbows . . . in coffee cups . . . watching
fish jump . . . after midnight . . . in my dreams . . .

On the stove . . . left front burner . . . is the stew . . . already
chewed . . . certain to burn . . . as I dream . . . of waves . . . of
nothingness . . .

Floating to shore . . . riding a low moon . . . on a slow cloud
. . . I am she . . . who writes . . . the poems . . .

Nikki Giovanni -- from Those Who Ride the Night Winds (1983)