Nikki Giovanni (June 7, 1943 / Knoxville, Tennessee)

Has anyone ever read Poetry by Nikki Giovanni? If not, here it is:
Poetry is motion graceful
as a fawn
gentle as a teardrop
strong like the eye
finding peace in a crowded room
we poets tend to think
our words are golden
though emotion speaks too
loudly to be defined
by silence
sometimes after midnight or just before
the dawn
we sit typewriter in hand
pulling loneliness around us
forgetting our lovers or children
who are sleeping
ignoring the weary wariness
of our own logic
to compose a poem
no one understands it
it never says love me for poets are
beyond love
it never says accept me for poems seek not
acceptance but controversy
it only says i am and therefore
i concede that you are too
a poem is pure energy
horizontally contained
between the mind
of the poet and the ear of the reader
if it does not sing discard the ear
for poetry is song
if it does not delight discard
the heart for poetry is joy
if it does not inform then close
off the brain for it is dead
if it cannot heed the insistent message
that life is precious
which is all we poets
wrapped in our loneliness
are trying to say

What a wonderful, uplifting speech she gave at the convocation memorial service at Va Taech the day after the shootings there.
She raised the spirits of both the students and the staff along with those of the world.
She gave hope to the hopeless of the world and raised every single person involved with Va Tech to the highest of all highs.
Va Tech is indeed lucky to have her as one of their professors.
I hope and pray that they all recover from this horrible tragedy and with staff like her, the students will prevail!
Go Hokies! Go Hokies!

Wow. Congratulations A. MacDonald you are now the poster boy/girl for the 'it is not my fault club'. He was 23, he had a brain, he was an adult. Everyone did what they could for him. Many people have horrendous childhoods, have many bad things that happen (and that they imagine happen) to them - some of them commit suicide - very few of them take people with them. How about we just balme it on him and quit dragging well meaning folks who did all they could through the mud?

As to the person who stated that all professionals had not helped this gentlemen. It is now the job of teachers to also stop the hate in people? It is he, himself, who failed the world. He is responsible for decisions and in the eyes of most of us, is a coward.

are you joking? youre ridiculous. did you miss the part where people tried to talk to him and tried to help him, but he barely even spoke a word to them, even when he was spoken to? did you miss the part where he was referred to counseling, to police, to administration? giovanni is an intelligent, caring, warm hearted individual. what would you have liked her to say? ''i ache for this this poor, poor child...'' this child failed HIMSELF and while he was at it, he took 32 innocent people with him. 'boys reaching out for help' dont laugh maniacally while they shoot fellow college students execution style with automatic weapons. they do not send numerous disturbing photos and videos of themselves with weapons and angry faces, discussing how their proceeding act of murder is 'not their fault at all' but the fault of everyone else, 'they chose it, they deserve it. theyll get whats coming to them.' this wasnt a young man reaching out for help, this was a very disturbed, vicious, and immature little boy who wanted to 'get even' with 'rich kids' that he hated for no reason. was he troubled? obviously, YES! this is not an excuse for his horrifying actions and it is NO reason for professors and faculty members to feel sorry for him or feel guilty. he ripped apart a university family. he ruined lives, families, relationships... i have NO pity for this cold blooded murderer. i feel a very deep sorrow for the innocent people that he took with him in his suicide mission and i feel sorry for the family that he embarrassed.

Nikki Giovanni's comments concerning the Vtech shootings should put her out of work. Her lack of maturity, sensitivity or humanity should prove to warrant some disciplinary action. Ms. Giovanni, this is a boy who was literally crying out for help on so many occasions. Every 'professional' who had dealings with this young man has FAILED him including YOU.