Acolytes: Poems

A collection of eighty all new poems, Acolytes is distinctly Nikki Giovanni, but different. Not softened, but more inspired by love, celebration, memories and even nostalgia. She aims her intimate and sparing words at family and friends, the deaths of heroes and friends, favorite meals and candy, nature, libraries, and theatre. But in between, the deep and edgy conscience that has defined her for decades shines through when she writes about Rosa Parks, hurricane Katrina, and Emmett Till's disappearance, leaving no doubt that Nikki has not traded one approach for another, but simply made room for both.

When her work first emerged during the Black Arts Movement, Nikki Giovanni immediately became one of the most highly regarded and controversial poets of the modern age and her popularity continues today as she is celebrated in song, verse, and popular and literary circles.

Now this remarkable artist has penned a collection of eighty all-new poems and prose pieces that retain her distinct vision and voice yet mark a change of direction inspired by love, celebration, memories, and even nostalgia. In intimate and spare language, Giovanni offers insight into the powerful elements and forces in her life: family and friends, the deaths of heroes and companions, nature, libraries, and theater. In between, the deep and edgy conscience that has defined her for decades shines through when she writes movingly of Rosa Parks, Hurricane Katrina, and Emmett Till, leaving no doubt that this commanding presence has not traded one approach for another but simply made room for both.

Publishers Weekly

The extraordinarily popular Giovanni got that way as a black militant during the 1970s, known for her inspirational, fiery live and recorded performances. This first volume since her 2003 Collected Poems loses the fire but keeps the inspiration: "Poetry says No to destruction and Yes to possibility," Giovanni declares. Her mix of lineated and prose poetry says yes over and over-to the glories of children and grandmothers, to "the men with hopes and dreams and talents," as well as to the memory of the African-American cultural heroes who died in the last few years. Many pages are, in effect, orations: "We will miss June Jordan. For her courage, her insight, her love of us all. We will miss this poet." Some of the strongest and most detailed works are short, not especially lyrical, pieces in prose. One remembers meeting Gwendolyn Brooks; another shows a grandmother's strong support for Virginia Tech Hokies football. Giovanni's most serious verse and prose link her own struggles-as a black woman, as a latter-day icon, as a cancer survivor, as a teacher-to the larger patterns of black American history, of striving toward freedom always: "I choose always as best I can to keep truth and compassion in my life." (Feb.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Poet, activist, mother, and professor, Nikki Giovanni is a three-time NAACP Image Award winner and the first recipient of the Rosa Parks Woman of Courage Award, and holds the Langston Hughes Medal for Outstanding Poetry. The author of twenty-seven books and a Grammy nominee for The Nikki Giovanni Poetry Collection, she is the University Distinguished Professor/English at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia, and an Oprah Living Legend.