Customer Reviews

Cotton Candy on a Rainy Day

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Cotton Candy on a Rainy Day is an intimate introspective work by Nikki Giovanni. While many of her collections prior to this one focused on more political issues, many of the poems in this collection are personal more focused on the personal struggles of a woman in the 1970's. Though these poems were first published in 1978 they are timeless classics and can be understood by any reader, from any walk of life who has dealt with the issues of identity and self-definition. In Cotton Candy on a Rainy Day Nikki Giovanni takes on the task of exploring the work of coming to terms with and loving who you are in a world that might not ever accept it.
Giovanni has a way of making private matters public that does not abuse or attack the senses. Instead the reader can almost hear some sweet soothing voice whispering her poetry as they read along. This is the case with the poem "Life Cycles":
she had so many private habits
she would masturbate sometimes
she always picked her nose when upset
she liked to sit with silence
in the dark
sadness is not an unusual state
for the black woman
or writers

In several poems Giovanni addresses the woman's inability to define her-self in a male-dominated society and the frustration and finally the understanding and self-acceptance that is born from this plight. However, her tone does not shift from its fluid and conversational tone:
she tried to be a book
but he wouldn't read

she turned herself into a bulb
but he wouldn't let her grow


she decided to become
a woman
and though he still refused
to be a man
she decided it was all
right

With its meditative style, Cotton Candy on a Rainy Day is just one of Nikki Giovanni's many beautiful contributions to the literary world.

Incredible. Nikki Giovanni has an incredible talent for writing and for expressing life in real ways. Her poetry, especially in this book, is great, because is makes you realize things you have never thought of before. You know that she understands what she is talking about, and the unconventional poetry style adds to the symbolism. I had to read this book for a research paper on Giovanni, but I loved reading the poems and so I ended up having fun with the project and I now want to read more of her work. I recomend these poems for anyone, even if you don't like to read, because you will read it and feel like you are eating Cotton Candy. You're awesome Nikki--Keep it up!

I READ THIS BOOK MANY YEARS AGO AND THE WORDS OF THE POEM "COTTON CANDY ON A RAINY DAY STILL ECHO'S IN MY BEING.
LONELINESS IS MORE THAN A STATE OF BEING IT IS A REALITY.
FOR ME.. "THE SWEET SOFT ESSENCE OF POSSIBLITY NEVER QUITE MATURING.."

yeah, right, and since all there is to being black is anger and sarcasm then we should all outgrow it right? is anybody with me here? huh? nikki giovanni is a voice beyond race. it's quite grotesque to put her in a box when that's just what she's hoping won't happen. by the by, kahlil gibran isn't just an 'adolescent' author. just because he's straight forward and writes in a classical style doesn't make him shallow. wait a few more years when your disillusionment has given way to a need for sincerity and reapproach these authors. if you still don't like it then so be it but don't blame it 'adolescense' or some other cop out nonsense. adults have been reading and praising these authors for years. smile.

I would put this book in a category with Kahlil Gibran, it's the sort of thing that you really love when you are about 16 and later you're less enthusiastic (it's really a rare book, and usually a really good one, that survives puberty in your own estimation). But then, since I am not black and have never experienced the things that many blacks have, there may be some stuff here about racism and anger that just never spoke to me. I mean, I used to be a lot more angry in general than I am now and so the anger aspect of the book is less sympathetic to me these days.