This omnibus covers Nikki Giovanni's complete work of poetry from 1967–1983. THE COLLECTED POETRY OF NIKKI GIOVANNI will include the complete volumes of five adult books of poetry: Black Feeling Black Talk/Black Judgement, My House, The Women and the Men, Cotton Candy on a Rainy Day, and Those Who Ride the Night Winds.

Nikki self–published her first book Black Feeling, Black Talk/BlackJudgement in 1969, selling 10,000 copies; William Morrow published in 1970. Know for its iconic revolutionary phrases, it is heralded as one of the most important volumes of modern African–American poetry and is considered the seminal volume of Nikki's body of work.

My House (Morrow 1972) marks a new dimension in tone and philosphy––This is Giovanni's first foray into the autobiographical.

In The Women and the Men (Morrow 1975), Nikki displays her compassion for the people, things and places she has encountered––She reveres the ordinary and is in search of the extraordinary.

Cotton Candy on a Rainy Day (Morrow 1978) is one of the most poignant and introspective of all Giovanni's collections. These poems chronicle the drastic change that took place during the 1970s––when the dreams of the Civil Rights era seemed to have evaporated.

Those Who Ride the Night Winds (Morrow 1983) is devoted to "the day trippers and midnight cowboys," the ones who have devoted their lives to pushing the limits of the human condition and shattered the constraints of the stautus quo.

In Collected, we are treated to a view of the world that goes back to the sixties and takes rapid-fire photographs through the nineties.

Giovanni?s poetry ranges from sentimental and introspective to irreverent and militant. It is a broad range of feelings about love, prejudice, injustice and living in one?s own skin.

There are so many interesting entries in this book. Cotton Candy on a Rainy Day deals with the frailty of human existence. For Harold Logan is dedicated to a man murdered after daring to open a Black club on Broadway. A Certain Peace talks about enjoying time alone and allowing others the freedom to do the same. All are good.

Rich with texture, Giovanni?s Collected feels like the opening of a soul. More and more and over and over, her poetry taps into the psyche and brings forth memories as much for Giovanni as for the reader.


A beautiful collection from a hugely significant poet.   July 9, 2008
Mark McLaughlin (Deerfield Beach, FL)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful

While reading through this wonderfully assembled collection of poetry, it is fascinating to encounter the wonderful historical context that appears throughout the works, constantly placing the reader in the "here and now" of when the poem was written. Because of this Giovanni has become a controversial figure but to simply focus on her earlier "angry work" is to oversimplify her career and have a knee jerk reaction to the pieces which is WHAT IS INTENDED. Nikki said it herself that she didn't want white people examining her work and this is why, they cannot get past the threat that such anger possesses to see the root of the problem. Until this happens that idiotic one star reviews that have appeared on here will continue to do so. Open your minds people and examine your hearts to fully explore these works of genius.


Our great National Treasure, our pained History, here and now still and again: READ HER AND REMEMBER!   July 23, 2007
C. Scanlon (among us humans)
3 out of 4 found this review helpful

Nikki Giovanni is our great national treasure; please read and remember!

Though each word elicits unknown tears, each line a pain inside the throat denied its cry, read her and find comfort with her, a comfort she gives without receiving.

Read our poet, again and now.

I refer to the 2003 HarperCOllins William Murrow publication, now reprinted with a (PS) apparently, but who can add to this collection, which itself was a reprint of the earlier Selected Poems, with the same Virginia Fowler brilliantly handling the insightful Introduction, the comprehensive chronology and the ample annotations. The annotations themselves are excellent, in particular for those who did not survive those times, and for those of us who somehow did.

Read Nikki once more, and remember, and rediscover our heart and our soul, the soul of our nation now so lost, bought, stole.

Read Nikki to remember. She is our brilliant and embracing mother, sister, friend, who invites us home to eat and to rest.

I bought this book for my English learners but I keep it for myself, to weep with Nikki once more. She is that beautiful, and wise, like a holy grand mother.

Get up. Stand up. As Maya would cry, Arise! And read Nikki once more, please, my good friend. We will get there together. All together.

And while you are at it, go ahead and pre-order the grateful re-issue of her old Folkways recording The Reason I Like Chocolate. She is very much present here within the mighty Amazon, seek her out and you will find your own heart and soul once again, though in pain, but with her you may weep once more, and discover warming comfort from our long and dry loneliness in this odd, exile and alien land which was once the land of our birth, and rejoice within her brave good humour.

Read my Nikki Giovanni.


Nice collection!   May 21, 2007
Anthony Marray (Ohio United States)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful

Okay, I admit she is not everybody's cup of tea (obviously as one can see with that last review) but she does have her charm. Personally I love her later work. Her early work is okay, but I can't make a connection to it as I'm a product of the post-Civil Rights/Black Power era. Her voice during those years served it purpose in the way African American art sought to seek a no-nonsense approach to black life in America (which wasn't as peachy fun as it should have been). "Black Feeling/Black Talk" and "Black Judgment" are written statements against White Supremacy (which was the child of Social Darwinism). But in her later works in the 70s, you see a shift in her work. The Black Power movement had died down (it didn't die out though) and so I guessed the logical approach to her work would have had to change as well. And thankfully it did. Not to say that she had softened into a free-loving poet but that her passion (which is still evident today in this 63 year old woman) has changed in its subjects.

My favorite book of hers (which this collection includes) is "Cotton Candy on a Rainy Day", which was poignant and warm (while her earlier work had been provocative and hot). My second favorite book (which is not in this collection) is "Quilting the Black-Eyed Pea: Poems and Not Quite Poems" (even though her new book "Acolytes: Poems" is pretty wonderful too). Some poems are really a joy to read. I remember when I first read "Ego-Tripping"; I thought that the title was perfect for the poem (cause her ego was tripping). It's a poem about the contribution that Africa has given to Western Civilization. Egypt is in Africa not the Middle East! Hannibal was from Carthage, which means he was African! The poem made me think about the rich history and cultures of Africa that most tend to just glance over. African influence extends beyond the continent and into the lives of people all over. It's a stirring poem. I also like "Nikki-Rosa" with that statement "...black love is black wealth", speaking of the fact that for the things that African Americans didn't have in the past what they did have that mattered (which some feel is being lost) was close emotional ties within families and friendships in the black community. I recommend that people watch the movie "Lackawanna Blues" and then read "Nikki-Rosa" and see what I mean. Nikki Giovanni appeals to me as a human being and not as being part African American. Her words (especially her most recent work "Acolytes") talks to me as an individual writer. She lives a fulfilling life as a writer, teacher, mother, lover and I know that she would want every person who reads her work to see that and seek out a fulfilling life for themselves.



The Wonderful Works of Nikki Giovanni   July 31, 2006
3 out of 7 found this review helpful

Nikki Giovanni is a writer with her own kind of style. I thought that this book expressed what kind of person that she is. Many poems in this book were about Black Culture. I would recommend this poem to anybody who is intrested in learning about black people and their struggles.