Woman

http://stylishthought.com/life/empowerment/woman-by-nikki-giovanni/
The poem Woman was written to a woman from a woman about women. The speaker (Giovanni), uses the motifs of third person, gender, nature, and the duality between desire and rejection to explain how women would mold themselves to fit the needs of men. The entire poem goes into a metaphoric perspective of what “this woman” tried to transform herself to be in order to make a man happy. In stanza three she writes “she spun herself into a web” implying that after changing herself repeatedly, she ended up making her own problems and eventually needed someone to turn to but he didn’t want to be her sturdy sense of direction. It seems as though this man was not interested in everything Giovanni had to give. In the fourth stanza the speaker says “she tried to be a book but he wouldn’t read. From this the reader could denote the purpose of a book which is to create characters and give them life. This line of the poem could imply that “she” tried to give life but he was uninterested. Throughout the poem the duality of desire and rejection as well as gender are present within each stanza being that she wants something that he is unwilling to give to her. The last stanza of the poem indicates that she tried to become a woman although he was nothing like a man. In this process he realized that she was already a woman and decided she didn’t need to change to prove it.

Fascinations

In the poem Fascinations, the speaker uses standard poetry format to portray her message. The speaker uses first person, duality, and vivid imagery to help justify the meaning of the poem. She writes in stanza one “I prefer the streams” as opposed to “the falls and rapids”. Giovanni uses this metaphor to suggest that although the beauty and the feeling of reaching your destination are mesmerizing, she still prefers the journey of obtaining such goals. The metaphor also explains that being that rapids and falls can only fall one way she enjoys that, however; she also enjoys the idea of streams venturing off in many directions. The duality that is mentioned in stanza one in lines 9-11, represents the obstacles versus the triumphs during this “journey” or maybe it could represent the duality of emotion in male and female. In stanza two the speaker uses temperature to reassure the reader that she simply was waiting for someone to be there for her and "warm" her soul. This could be inferred by “I am cold no matter what the temperature”.  The speaker continues on with stating that “[she] knows she is on dangerous ground [because she] misread [YOUR] smile all year assured that YOU and therefore everything was all right. If the smile is misread, this could mean that something secretive laid behind the smile that was being given. Being that Giovanni is always gender specific, the reader can be surprised that she did not state whether or not this “you” was a man or a woman.  Dangerous, meaning risky could imply that Giovanni was playing with fire or that of the same sex. She continues to write “I wade from quiet of your presence into the turbulence of your emotions.” Wading or paddling means that this person slowly took Giovanni out of her comfort zone and entered a new world full of feelings, confusion, and very fast paced or “turbulent”. Giovanni concludes her poem with implying that she wouldn’t change anything about the experience because it changed her view on life. She feels as though things should be spontaneous and surprising which it what she states in lines 5-6 of stanza four.  

Life Cycles

http://www.afropoets.net/nikkigiovanni13.html
In the poem Life Cycles, the speaker uses the duality between negative and positive sentiments and the repetition of the word “she” to embrace her purpose in life. From annotating the poem, it is evident to the reader that negative emotion appears more than a positive one. In the first stanza, the speaker (Giovanni) targets a new audience. She is speaking in third person as opposed to first as if “she” represents more than one person. The format of the poem is standard and the alignment is even which suggests that the message should be straight forward. The poem seems as though it is targeted to the opposite sex being that the speaker uses the repetition of “she” to emphasize a more feminist point of view for the poem. In stanza one, the speaker implies that she realized that she was unwanted and purposely meant to be shutout from the world. From this the reader can imply that the speaker is writing about her purpose in life. As the poem goes on, the speaker continues to explore her journey to finding her resolution. In stanza two when Giovanni writes “she had so many private habits…in the dark”, one can denote that when “she” or the “average woman” is alone she’d do things that were pleasing to her to help overcome her sadness being that she was alone or shutout in the first place. As the poem continues it also seems as though this poem is to justify how the women change who they want to be because they are molded into something else by society. The poem speaks about how they react to the change which has more of a negative effect rather than a positive one. The poem concludes with “planting in her emotional garden to see what weeds would rise to strangle her” implying that as society continues to toy with “her” emotions, she will watch the obstacles rise and try to take her over.

Crutches

http://www.afropoets.net/nikkigiovanni18.html
In the poem Crutches, the speaker uses the metaphoric view of being disabled to show the reader the impact of the world being impaired rather than just one. The speaker uses a informative tone to address the reader throughout the poem. The speaker begins in stanza one with stating that it is not the help that we criticize, it is the motivation to move on even when we can’t that makes everything so difficult. Throughout this poem, the speaker addresses the sexist point of view that states that a ‘woman is to stay in her place”. Stanza two addresses what it is that a woman should and should not do. She implies that society has shaped the world into believing that a woman is not to need for anything so they turn to religion to embrace a common purpose for themselves. There is also the comparison of man versus woman throughout the poem where woman can’t be strong like men so they hide their anger with smiles and alcohol.  On the contrary men CAN be strong and it drives them emotionally insane. As you can see the speaker address the emotional strength versus the physical strength that has stereotypically shaped the thoughts of both men and women.  Giovanni also uses the motifs of weakness and hurt to help portray how the human mind works. She proves that where WE all fall emotionally we usually want to be independent which leads to us having no one to fall back on for help. Both men and women work to prove a point implying that crutches are irrelevant, but in truth crutches is something that they both need where crutches symbolize someone to swing back on when all else fails. In the second to last stanza, the speaker begins to sum up her message by implying that although you may feel guilty about asking someone for help, having no one to help you in life with the annoyances that bother you can lead to destruction.

Cotton Candy on a Rainy Day

http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474976851315
In the poem, Cotton Candy on a Rainy Day, the speaker takes more time to get her point across then usual being that this poem is longer than most. The speaker addresses her issues with the audience in stanza one where she states “Don’t look now; I am fading away into the gray of my mornings.” The speaker is advising her audience to not watch her while she is at her worst where she feels as though she is becoming nothing. She continues on with stanza two stating that “[her] nails keep breaking.” The metaphor in this line justifies that the pieces of her life that hold her together keep breaking spontaneously. The poem continues as the speaker attempts to “vent” to her audience. She implies in stanza three that it seems as though no matter how hard she tries to pretend like she is worth having, no one acts like it. In stanza five, the speaker moves to speak upon her late night self-consoling strategies. The motifs that were evident to the reader consisted of: duality between dark/light, emotion, and objects. The duality provided in the poem, helps to give contrast to the surrounding of the speaker which may have had some effect on the fluctuation of her emotions. The objects that were mentioned within the poem give metaphoric imagery to the way the speaker felt about difficulty of life. In stanza five, the speaker introduces the metaphor of cotton candy in which reminded her of the possibility of life. Being that Cotton Candy can appear to be solid but eventually melts away, the reader can infer that this “possibility” that the speaker talks about comes and goes. It is sweet at first and then it simply disappears. She concludes her thoughts with stating that “[she] wants to share the dream with a vivid and graphic picture of the world to analyze on a flat surface. Even though she knows she needs a change, it is also relevant to her that the world needs affection in order for it to change as well which would keep the possibility of “better” as opposed to it just melting away.

A Very Simple Wish

In the poem A Very Simple Wish, the speaker uses the motifs of balance, similes/metaphors, and images of violence/neglect[ion] to prove her position of trying to draw attention to the hatred within the audience (the world). The speaker begins the poem with “i want to write an image like a log-cabin quilt pattern and stretch it across all the lonely people who just don’t fit in”. This implies that the speaker wants to create a symbol (which in this case would be a mobile mural) that represents all the misfits who have been casted out. A stylistic device in which the speaker has picked up is also evident in stanza one whereas the “I” is lowercase instead of being capitalized. The grammatical error is intentional symbolizing that she is not “big” enough to cure the world on her own and that she would need help from many.  Later Giovanni writes “we shall all lose our eyes since we cannot even distinguish the good from the evil.” Aside from the other historical poems the speaker has written, although this particular one doesn’t reveal certain historical events, it does however represent them. Giovanni is speaking about helping one another and how neglecting someone in a time of need is the same as violently destroying them. This particular line shows that if the world fails to realize this, then we would all be in deep trouble. The speaker concludes her poem with the stanza beginning with “i want to make a quilt of all the patches”.  It is now evident to the reader that the speaker wants to make a representation of a better “us” for motivation and she wants as many people to join in on her thoughts.

The Way I Feel

In the poem The Way I Feel, the speaker (Giovanni) uses the motifs of contentment, comparisons, and repetition to justify the way she feels about someone. The audience in this poem seems to be the person in which Giovanni is writing about. The speaker writes in stanza five, “In my mind you’re a clock”. This comparison implies that this person in which Giovanni feels so strongly about changes her emotions by the second.  Another comparison the speaker makes is in stanza two. “I’ve realized I’m fulfilled like a big fat cow” this symbolizes that she is stuffed with emotion from this person that allows her to stiffen and remain where she is being that you are stuffed, sometimes you can’t move. Her contentment comes from stanza three in which the speaker states that “[she] is as glad as mortar” which is sediment used to attach bricks to each other. This implies that she is content upon being the bond that holds her and this person together. As the poem continues, the speaker uses repetition to emphasize that she is not embarrassed about the way she feels about this person. She concludes with repeating the title of the poem twice. The effect of this proves the speakers determination and confidence for the person in which she is speaking about which adds more drama to the comparisons written in the poem. Throughout the poem, the reader is able to depict the contentment within the tone in which she is writing. The poem is not a negative one in which the reader can tell that the speaker is happy with this person.