Nikki Giovanni's compelling poetry sweeps readers into her world, one shaped by her experiences as an African American born in Tennessee, raised in urban Ohio, and coming of age during the 1960s.

By the time Giovanni graduated in 1967 with her B.A. from Nashville's Fisk University, she was deeply involved with the Civil Rights Movement and committed to the concept of Black Power.

Her first three collections of poetry, published between 1968 and 1970, talk about black consciousness, an issue she explores to this day.

She now introduces poetry to college students in her role as Professor of English at Virginia Tech.

"I think poetry gets mistaught," she says. "You get a line ... my favorite example, it's Frost's 'walking through the woods on a snowy evening.' And somebody will invariably say, 'Well, what do you think he meant?' How about: It's snowing, it's evening, he was walking, and that was the woods. There's no hidden agenda in poetry. There are deeper meanings. But the deeper meanings are what we inject. They're our own experience."

Giovanni says teachers shouldn't fear teaching today's students classics such as Lord Alfred Tennyson's Ulysses. "People think, 'Oh, if I read Tennyson to my kids or if I ask them to read him, they won't understand it. They won't enjoy it. They won't follow it. But they will."

Tennyson said that the poem Ulysses reflected his own need to go forward and brave the struggle of life after having suffered a great loss.

"We're all on this quest," says Giovanni.

• Read Ulysses for yourself. Why does this poem have meaning for your world?

Giovanni wrote the the poem Nikki-Rosa to express her feelings about her childhood. Read the poem below and then listen to an audio version featuring Giovanni.

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 you'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.

Giovanni reads Nikki-Rosa, accompanied by a gospel choir in the background. (Requires QuickTime. Download now.)

• What sort of ideas and perspective is Giovanni trying to convey to her readers?
  
  
• Now that you've both read and listened to the poem, which images resonate the most with you?
  
  
• If you were to write a poem about your own childhood, what unique images would you choose to help convey your perspective?
  
  
• Why do you think Giovanni recorded her words over gospel music? What sort of connection does gospel music have with her poetry?
  
  
  
  

Giovanni believes that creativity is part of every human being, and that this has been true since the days of the cave dwellers who painted animal figures on rock walls.

She considers it vitally important that everyone be allowed to express their creativity, in whatever form it manifests.

"If we don't allow people to dance, then they're going to rob us and run."