Those Who Ride the Night Winds (Paperback)

by Nikki Giovanni (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"Giovanni's poetry heals and struts, mourns and celebrates with restorative wit." -- --Lorene Carey

Cancers (not Necessarily A Love Poem)
Charles White
The Cyclops In The Ocean
Day Trippers
The Drum (for Martin Luther King, Jr.)
Eagles (a Poem For Lisa)
Flying Underground (for The Children Of Atlanta)
Hands: For Mother's Day
Harvest (for Rosa Parks)
Her Cruising Car (a Portrait Of Two Small Town Girls)
I Am She
I Wrote A Good Omelet - And Ate A Hot Poem
A Journey
Linkage (for Phillis Wheatley)
Lorraine Hansberry: An Emotional View
Love Thoughts
Love: Is A Human Condition
Mirrors (for Billy Jean King)
Night Winds
A Poem On The Assassination Of Robert F. Kennedy
Relections - On A Golden Anniversary
Resignation
The Room With The Tapestry Rug
Sky Diving
A Song For New-ark
This Is Not For John Lennon (and This Is Not A Poem)
Three/quarters Time
Wild Flowers
A Word For Me - Also
You Were Gone
-- Table of Poems from Poem Finder®

Product Description

Nikki Giovanni, long known as "the Princess of Black Poetry," dedicates Those Who Ride the Night Winds to "the day trippers and midnight cowboys," the ones who have devoted their lives to pushing the limits of the human condition and who have shattered the constraints of the status quo to live life as a "marvelous, transitory adventure."Included are poems about John Lennon, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert Kennedy, as well as friends, lovers, mothers, and the poet herself. With reverence for the ordinary and in search of the extraordinary, Those Who Ride the Night Winds is Nikki Giovanni's most accessible collection ever. She displays her passion for and connectedness to the people and places that touch her. The reissue of Nikki Giovanni's seminal 1984 collection will once again enchant those who have always loved her poems--and those who are just getting to know her work.

As a witness to three generations, Nikki Giovanni has perceptively and poetically recorded her observations of both the outside world and the gentle yet enigmatic territory of the self. When her poems first emerged from the civil rights and Black Power movements in the late 1960s, she immediately became a celebrated and controversial figure. Written in one of the most commanding voices to grace America's political and poetic landscape at the end of the twentieth century, Nikki Giovanni's poems embody the fearless passion and spirited wit for which she is beloved and revered.

Nikki Giovanni is our most widely read living black poet, and in her most accessible collection to date, we become aware of the poet as a human being we can relate to, someone affected by and concerned with events. The title of this collection refers to people who have tried to make changes, people who have gone against the tide, people who were unafraid to test their wings. Included are poems about John Lennon, Billie Jean King, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert Kennedy. There are poems about friends, lovers, mothers, and about the poet herself.

Long known as the "Princess of Black Poetry," Nikki Giovanni is as alive and vibrant as ever. Her many readers will find once again in this collection the warmth, wit, passion, and caring about people that have always distinguished her work. Strong, direct, tremendously energetic, visionary, vulnerable, and real, these poems reveal a great spirit among us; a woman in her human dimension; a person all readers can identify with and believe in.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 64 pages
• Publisher: Harper Perennial (April 21, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0688026532
• ISBN-13: 978-0688026530
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,186,963 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lovely...It explains how I feel to my fiancee, May 22, 1999

By A Customer

Many of her poems express how I feel to my beloved. They hold the true powers of words of wisdom that can be passed on to others.

5.0 out of 5 stars Completely changed my view of what poetry could be..., April 9, 2008

By	mindyourown - See all my reviews

When I was just a teen, many years ago now, I picked up my sister's copy of this amazing collection of poetry. I have the same copy to this day, pages well worn and the book cover dog-eared from use. At the time I first read this collection, I had only known more conventional poetry from my studies. Reading Nikki Giovanni's work made me realize what poetry could be--not just lofty highbrow sentiments about things of no interest to me--but that a poem could convey powerful, even abstract thoughts in a very unique and meaningful way. I learned of history, of struggle, of joy, of love...many things I hadn't yet experienced or wouldn't have the ability to experience. Yet Giovanni's work made these thoughts and experiences seem accessible to even a young girl of 16. As an adult, these poems have only increased in value and meaning to me. I highly recommend this to anyone but particularly those who may not think they like poetry.