Nikki Giovanni

It’s easy to see

The delight I am taking

In this life

I am always smiling

I am in love

If I had never held your hand

Never been so close

To the most kissable lips in the universe

Never wanted ever so much

To rest my tongue in your dimple

Maybe I could sleep at night

If this question I ache to ask

could be answered

If only I could stop dreaming

of you

Maybe I could sleep

at night

I do not know

Where I am

Or how I got here

I am lost

I want to find myself

In your arms

I look at the full moon

And bay

Come

Come

Come to me

Let’s explore

A new world

In order to properly care for things

They must be loved

And touched

Yet there is something

Evergreen

About this love

That I

Offer you

This night is made

For walking

Holding your hand

Having a crescent moon

Laugh down on us

That was the impetus for writing it, because I had read a lot of very powerful black literature by men, but I had the feeling they were talking about somebody else. It was not for my enlightenment. It was
for clarification…It was extremely important for them to do this, for Richard Wright to say, “let me show you America.”

MORRISON: First of all, I really wanted her past, her memories, her haunting memories, not to be abstract.