Cotton Candy on a Rainy Day (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Nikki Giovanni is one of our national treasures. For decades she has offered her wit and wisdom, her bruising honesty, and, above all, her unbounded love through these poems as a healing for herself, her community, and her country." -- Gloria Naylor

Adulthood Ii
Age
Because
The Beep Beep Poem
Being And Nothingness (to Quote A Philosopher)
Boxes
Choices
Cotton Candy On A Rainy Day
Crutches
Fascinations
Forced Retirement
Gus (for My Father)
Habits
Introspection
Life Cycles
Make Up
The Moon Shines Down
The New Yorkers
Patience
Photograph
Poem
Poem (for Ema)
A Poem For Ed And Archie
A Poem Of Friendship
A Poem Off Center
A Response (to The Rock Group Foreigner)
The Rose Bush
Space
A Statement On Conservation
That Day
Their Fathers
Turning (i Need A Better Title)
Winter
The Winter Storm
Woman
You Are There
-- Table of Poems from Poem Finder®

Product Description

A pivotal work in Nikki Giovanni's career, Cotton Candy on a Rainy Day is one of the most poignant and intorspective of all Giovanni's collections.Moving from the emotionally fraught political arena to the intimate realm of the personal, the poems in this volume express a conflicted consciousness and the disillusionment shared by so many during the early 1970s, when the dreams of the Civil Rights era seemed to have evaporated. First published in 1978, this classic will remind her readers why they were first drawn to Nikki Giovanni and enthrall new readers who are just now coming to these timeless poems.

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 Black Rights Movement in the late 1960s, she immediately became a celebrated and controversial poet of the era. Written in one of the most commanding voices to grace America'ss 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.

A pivotal work in Nikki Giovanni's career, Cotton Candy on a Rainy Day is one of the most poignant and introspective of all Giovanni's collections. Moving from the emotionally fraught political arena to the intimate realm of the personal, the poems in this volume express a conflicted consciousness and the disillusionment shared by so many during the early 1970s, when the dreams of the Civil Rights era seemed to have evaporated. First published in l978, this classic will remind her readers why they were first drawn to Nikki Giovanni and enthrall new readers who are just now coming to these timeless poems.

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 Black Rights Movement in the late 1960s, she immediately became a celebrated and controversial poet of the era. Written in one of themost 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 one of our national treasures. For decades she has offered her wit and wisdom, her bruising honesty, and, above all, her unbounded love through these poems as a healing for herself, her community, and her country." --Gloria Naylor

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: Harper Perennial; First Edition edition (April 1, 1980)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 068808365X
• ISBN-13: 978-0688083656
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #850,624 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cotton Candy on a Rainy Day, March 3, 2005

By	mslynn - See all my reviews

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.

8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cotton Candy Tastes Sweet, January 9, 2000

By	Jenna (America) - See all my reviews

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!

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars WONDERFULLY SOUFUL, January 29, 2002

By	TABITHA GASTON (BOSTON, MA USA) - See all my reviews

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.."