Nikki Giovanni
Peace & Blessings to the best of the best poets and human beings
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it’s
raining today.
think i’m gonna go get
some
cotton candy…
— brian gilmore © 2024
I talked to Nikki Giovanni so many times over the years in person in very brief conversations at literary events, I lost count. I never got close to her. I never thought to try. That is just how I am wired. I have no photos with her as I first met her when people were not running around with phone cameras. Once the cameras came, I still didn’t. She was just a beautiful person I thought who was special even if she had worked her entire life as a chef, or a cashier at a grocery store, or not worked at all. She was a people person, a Gemini, sharing a birthday with Prince and Gwendolyn Brooks. I remember the one time we spoke in depth all she talked about was her lung cancer journey many, many years ago. I was astonished how she was able to talk candidly about something so personal, yet so demanding of one’s inner strength. It is a cliche, but the world is better that Nikki Giovanni was here, so much better. She was too real to lie to herself and others, so when she spoke the truth rang throughout the universe like an endless church bell.
