Love poems

In one way or another, love shapes most of Giovanni's smart, to-the-point, and emotionally candid poems, but it's wonderful to have a volume devoted strictly to her love poems, especially since it contains 20 new compositions. Giovanni is one of America's most popular poets, because she speaks her mind clearly and has such a good time doing it. As she writes in "A Poem: For Langston Hughes": "wool is sheared . . . silk is spun / weaving is hard . . . but words are fun," a sentiment she brings to rich fruition in her more playful poems, rhyming wonders reminiscent of old blues lyrics where every line is a double entendre, the sort of hand-on-your-hip songs Bessie Smith and Dinah Washington sashayed and smiled their way through. But Giovanni turns more somber and reflective as she expresses the love of a daughter and mother, and a woman's deep-down love for a man that far outlasts the giddy romp of romance. --Donna Seaman

The bold, romantic, and sometimes erotic poems found here include "Seduction," "I Wrote a Good Omelet," and "My House." (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Love Poems What It Is if it's a trail we can hike it if it has two wheels we can bike it if it's an allergy we can sneeze it if it's a pimple we can squeeze it if it's dew it "covers Dixie" if it's Tinker Bell it's a pixie if it's a breeze it can blow us if it's the sun it can know us if it's a song we can sing it if it flies we can wing it if it's soda pop then it's drinkable it might be X-Rated but that's unthinkable if it's a boat we can sail it if it's a letter we can mail it if it's a star we can let it shine if it's the moon it can make you mine if it's grass we can rake it if it's free why not take it if it's a tide it can ebb if it's a spider it can web if it's chocolate we can dip it if it's a golf ball we can chip it if it's gum we can chew it I hope it's love so we can do it Love Poems . Copyright © by Nikki Giovanni. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold. Excerpted from Love Poems by Nikki Giovanni All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.