100 Best African American Poems with CD

From the Introduction:\ Poems are like clouds on a June morning or two scoops of chocolate ice cream on a sugar cone in August...something everyone can enjoy. Or maybe poems are your cold feet in December on your lover's back...he is in agony but he lets your feet stay...something like that requires a bit of love. Or could it be that poems are exactly like Santa Claus...the promise, the hope, the excitement of a reward, no matter how small, for a good deed done...or a mean deed from which we refrained. The promise of tomorrow. I don't know. It seems that poems are essential. Like football to Fall, baseball to Spring, tennis to Summer, love Anytime. Something you don't think too much about until it is in Season. Then you deliciously anticipate the perfection. African American poems are like all other poems: beautiful, loving, provocative, thoughtful, and all those other adjectives I can think of.\ Poems know no boundaries. They, like all Earth citizens, were born in some country, grew up on some culture, then in their blooming became citizens of the Universe. Poems fly from heart to heart, head to head, to whisper a dream, to share a condolence, to congratulate, and to vow forever. The poems are true. They are translated and they are celebrated. They are sung, they are recited, they are delightful. They are neglected. They are forgotten. They are put away. Even in their fallow periods they sprout images. And fight to be revived. And spring back to life with a bit of sunshine and caring.\ These poems, this book, admit I cheated. The idea of this and no more would simply not work for me. I needed these plus those. My mother's favorite poem by Robert Hayden, plus James Weldon Johnson beginning a world that included the longing of the unfree for a loving God. My own fun "Ego Tripping" reaching to embrace Margaret Walker's "For My People." "Train Rides" and "Nikki-Rosa" read by old and loving friends. But also the newness: Novella Nelson lending that sultry voice to the youngsters; Ruby Dee bringing her brilliance to the Gwendolyn Brooks cycle. My Virginia Tech Family wanted to participate: our president Dr. Charles Steger reading "The Negro Speaks of Rivers," recognizing all our souls "have grown deep like the rivers." We celebrate our Hips; we See A Negro Lady at a birthday celebration. Our friends from James Madison University and West Virginia University came to celebrate poetry with us, too. I love these poems so much. The only other thing I would have loved is Caroline Kennedy reading "A Clean Slate."\ At the end of a loving day of laughter in Jeff Dalton's studio, when Clinton's makeup had taken forty years off some of us and twenty-five off others, we all came together with one last great cry: the Dean of our College; the Director of Honors; young, old, professional, professor, and recited in one great voice "We Real Cool." Yeah. We are. This book says Poetry Is For Everyone. What a Treat to be Snowbound with The 100* Best African American Poems (*but I cheated).\ I did cheat.\ It's true.\ But I did not lie.\ Nikki Giovanni Poet\ 12 December 2009

Dedication: The Aunt: xxi — Track 1 Mari Evans1. For My People: 1 — Track 2 Margaret Walker2. Leroy: 3 Amiri Baraka (LeRoi Jones)3. Ars Poetica: Nov. 7, 2008: 4 L. Lamar Wilson4. Ka'Ba: 8 Amiri Baraka (LeRoi Jones)5. When You Have Forgotten Sunday: The Love Story: 9 — Track 3 Gwendolyn Brooks6. The Sermon on the Warpland: 11 — Track 4 Gwendolyn Brooks We Real Cool: 12 — Track 5 Gwendolyn Brooks7. Jazz Baby Is It In You: 13 Antoine Harris "I Fade Into the Night": 14 Adam Daniel8. Old Lem: 15 — Track 6 Sterling A. Brown9. I Am Accuse of Tending to the Past: 17 — Track 7 Lucille Clifton10. I Am A Black Woman: 18 — Track 8 Mari Evans11. Who Can Be Born Black?: 20 — Track 9 Mari Evans12. Nikka-Rosa:21 — Track 10 Nikki Giovanni13. Knoxville, Tennessee: 23 — Track 11 Nikki Giovanni14. The Dry Spell: 24 — Track 12 Kevin Young15. Those Winter Sundays: 26 — Tracks 13 & 14 Robert Hayden16. Frederic Douglass: 27 Robert Hayden17. The Negro Speaks of Rivers: 28 — Track 15 Langston Hughes18. Choosing the Blues: 29 Angela Jackson19. My Father's Love Letters: 30 Yusef Komunyakaa20. The Creation: 32 — Track 16 James Weldon Johnson21. A Negro Love Song: 36 Paul Laurence Dunbar22. Lift Every Voice and Sing: 37 James Weldon Johnson23. Go Down Death: 39 James Weldon Johnson24. Between Ourselves: 42 Audre Lorde25. The Union of Two: 45 Haki R. Madhubuti26. Ballad of Birmingham: 46 Dudley Randall27. A Poem to Complement Other Poems: 48 Haki R. Madhubuti28. No Images: 51 Waring Cuney29. Between the World and Me: 52 Richard Wright30. Theme for English B: 54 Langston Hughes31. Harlem Suite Easy Boogie: 56 Langston Hughes Dream Boogie: 57 Langston Hughes Dream Boogie: Variation: 58 Langston Hughes Harlem: 58 Langston Hughes Good Morning: 59 Langston Hughes Same in Blues: 60 Langston Hughes Island: 61 Langston Hughes32. The Blue Terrance: 62 Terrance Hayes33. The Mother: 64 — Track 17 Gwendolyn Brooks A Bronzeville Mother Loiters in Mississippi. Meanwhile, a Mississippi Mother Burns Bacon: 66 Gwendolyn Brooks — Track 18 The Last Quatrain of the Ballad of Emmett Till: 72 Gwendolyn Brooks A Sunset of the City: 73 — Track 19 Gwendolyn Brooks34. Things I Carried Coming to the World: 75 Remica L. Bingham35. Topography: 77 Remica L. Bingham36. Beneath Me: 79 Jericho Brown37. Autobiography: 80 Jericho Brown38. Parable of the Sower: 82 Pamela Sneed39. Heritage: 86 Countee Cullen40. Yet I Do Marvel: 91 — Track 20 Countee Cullen41. Incident: 92 — Track 21 Countee Cullen42. We Wear the Mask: 93 — Track 22 Paul Laurence Dunbar43. Triple: 94 Georgia Douglas Johnson44. The Heart of a Woman: 95 — Track 23 Georgia Douglas Johnson45. Woman With Flower: 96 Naomi Long Madgett46. The Idea of Ancestry: 97 Etheridge Knight47. Don't Say Goodbye to the Porkpie Hat: 99 Larry Neal48. Cleaning: 105 Camille T. Dungy49. Boston Year: 106 — Track 24 Elizabeth Alexander50. She Wears Red: 107 Jackie Warren-Moore51. Commercial Break: Road-Runner, Uneasy: 110 Tim Seibles52. Before Making Love: 114 Toi Derricotte53. Be-Bop: 115 Sterling Plumpp54. Personal Letter No. 3: 116 — Track 25 Sonia Sanchez55. Poem at Thirty: 117 — Track 26 Sonia Sanchez56. A Poem for Sterling Brown: 118 — Track 27 Sonia Sanchez57. Marchers Headed for Washington, Baltimore, 1963: 120 Remica L. Bingham58. And Yeah...This is a Love Poem: 123 Nikki Giovanni59. The Carousel: 123 Gloria C. Oden60. Only Everything I Own: 127 Patricia Smith61. Lot's Daughter Dreams of Her Mother: 128 — Track 28 Opal Moore62. The Girlfriend's Train: 131 Nikky Finney63. Back from the Arms of Big Mama: 136 Afaa Michael Weaver64. Mama's Promise: 139 — Track 29 Marilyn Nelson65. Bop: A Whistling Man: 142 Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon66. Homage to My Hips: 144 — Track 30 Lucille Clifton67. Train Ride: 145 Kwame Dawes68. Train Rides: 148 — Track 31 Nikki Giovanni69. A Great Grandaddy Speaks: 153 Lamonte B. Steptoe70. Eddie Priest's Barbershop & Notary: 154 Kevin Young71. View of the Library of Congress From Paul Laurence Dunbar High School: 156 Thomas Sayers Ellis72. Drapery Factory, Gulfport, Mississippi, 1956: 159 — Track 32 Natasha Trethewey73. Some Kind of Crazy: 161 Major Jackson74. From: 163 A. Van Jordan75. Freedom Candy: 165 E. Ethelbert Miller76. The Supremes: 167 Cornelius Eady77. Jazz Suite Nikki Save Me: 169 Michael Scott "Nikki, If You Were a Song...": 170 — Track 33 Kwame Alexander Haiku: 170 DJ Renegade Untitled: 170 Nadir Lasana Bomani "I Wish I Could've Seen It...": 171 Leodis McCray78. That Some Mo': 174 DJ Renegade79. Sometime in the Summer There's October: 175 Kwame Alexander80. Dancing Naked on the Floor: 178 Kwame Alexander81. Harriet Tubman's Email 2 Master: 180 Truth Thomas82. A River That Flows Forever: 181 — Track 34 Tupac Shakur83. The Rose that Grew from Concrete: 181 — Track 34 Tupac Shakur84. Rochelle: 182 Reuben Jackson85. All Their Stanzas Look Alike: 183 Thomas Sayers Ellis86. From the Center to the Edge: 185 Asha Bandele87. The Subtle Art of Breathing: 187 Asha Bandele88. Southern University, 1963: 192 Kevin Young89. Poetry Should Ride the Bus: 195 Ruth Forman90. Blues for Spring: 197 Colleen J. McElroy91. The Bicycle Wizard: 198 Sharon Strange92. Bicycles: 199 Nikki Giovanni93. A Clean Slate: 200 Fred D'Aguiar94. Song Through the Wall: 201 Akua Lezli Hope95. A Seat Saved: 203 Shana Yarborough96. Sunday Greens: 205 Rita Dove97. The Untitled Superhero Poem: 206 Tonya Maria Matthews98. Mercy Killing: 209 — Track 35 Remica L. Bingham99. If You Saw a Negro Lady: 210 June Jordan100. Ego Tripping (There May Be a Reason Why): 212 — Track 36 Nikki Giovanni

\ From Barnes & NobleIn this multimedia anthology, editor Nikki Giovanni brings together the words and sounds of one hundred superlative African American poems from Phillis Wheatley to the present. This book and CD package can be beginning of a lifetime's conversation with inspiring poetry.\ \ \