If I Knew Nikki Poem by Oni Lasana

A tribute to Nikki Giovanni, my 'play cousin.'

If I knew Nikki, she would say 'keep walking in the light Oni, read my poems, listen to every recording I left behind....
'specially for you
& everyone who has SOULLLLL'
Thanks my collection & Apple Music...I do. I am. I can.
I always will.
Remember Nikki Giovanni.
Who wrote a poem called, WHEN I DIE, poking fun at destiny.
My heart is buried in the somber jazz riffs of JAVON & NIKKI GO TO THE MOVIES.
But right now, I'm under a coconut tree & ain't free to BE in Christiansburg at Virginia Tech... to celebrate
THE LEGACIES, THE POETRY OF NIKKI GIOVANNI.

Dag! Oh how I want to wear my everyday best & smile & hug whoever Nikki called a friend or familee
YES, I heard word in Nikki & its true,
EGO TRIPPIN' a high school graduation chant & I still be trippin'.

If I really knew Nikki...you already know....I saved every letter she ever wrote to me & responded
with chapters of my life in response to hers...
because one thing I do knew...is....she loved to read.
I squint to read, re-read twice to understand her handwriting...
it had to be published like BLACK FEELING/BLACK TALK...
it was challenging....alien penmanship fo' sho,
cause she was from MARS.

If I knew Nikki...it was because I could SHIMMY SHIMMY SHIMMY...LIKE MY SISTER KATE
While that chile'...Nikki gloried hallaluyour in
THE WAY I FEEL about Paul Laurence Dunbar
who brought us together...in 1998...to create what was old...
into our friendship of new.
HIP HOP SPEAKS TO CHILDREN.....was a brilliant point of view, showing off her Tupac tattoo.
She knew how we be, she knew how we cook,
she knew how we smelled, she knew...
KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE to say can you see Amerikka.....
what we been going through?
So Rest In Peace Nikki... I will never sing the blues over you...
knowing you was LIKE A RIPPLE ON A POND....
still moving, forever doin' what we poets do.
Making me a part of your crew...
You didn't write JUST ANY POEM....
you channel your childhood with KIDS STUFF too.
You're sleeping now, but I be feelin' ya play cous...
like COTTON CANDY ON A RAINY DAY.

If I knew Nikki - I'd know why she proliferated, pontificated, elaborated....like she knew me too....
on THE REASON I LIKE CHOCOLATE
As if she really needed a reason... while offering up....
down to earth for real doe memories of NIKKI ROSA

A eternal ACOLYTE serving up THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO NIKKI GIOVANNI...as she spoke on, about, throu...
& around the SCRAPBOOKS of her/our Black Experience since....whenever.
Yeah...Nikki told us....TRUTH IS ON ITS WAY....
now & back in the day...
She traveled...as she was always...
QUILTING THE BLACK EYE PEAS....
living the BLUES, FOR ALL THE CHANGES
especially IN PHILADELPHIA, where one of her endless quotes is a work of art...
nuevo graffiti on the side of a brick building on 52nd street.

If I knew Nikki...she'd know me too.
As one of THE GIRLS IN THE CIRCLE...
cuz we ham-boned Gwen Brooks,
We Real Cool.....together at Virginia Tech studio's with her Chi-Town friend, Val Gray Ward.
So when I get home....
I'm going to my old stomping ground....52nd street.
Stand under that mural...put one hand on my hip,
the other hand under my chin,
Have Don Juan take a picture of me, ego trippin' again.
In the corner I'll write a note for Nikki G...in the black n' white of Sharon's photography.
Like I used to & will forever do...the do.
Always Thinking of Nikki G, po-etree & her smile.

(c) 12/17/2024 If I Knew Nikki by Oni Lasana