Except By My Permission

I still owe a decent summation of my observations from the road, but those will have to wait.

Instead, I think I’ll reach for a borrowed meme from back in April. Maybe I’ll start a new one here. When I was driving home from the aforementioned roadtrip, a poet was on local public radio. As I turned into my neighborhood, she stepped mightilly into one of the boldest poems I’ve heard in a long while. Reading is not as good as hearing, but still worth the doing.


I was born in the congo
I walked to the fertile crescent and built
the sphinx
I designed a pyramid so tough that a star
that only glows every one hundred years falls
into the center giving divine perfect light
I am bad

I sat on the throne
drinking nectar with allah
I got hot and sent an ice age to europe
to cool my thirst
My oldest daughter is nefertiti
the tears from my birth pains
created the nile
I am a beautiful woman

I gazed on the forest and burned
out the sahara desert
with a packet of goat’s meat
and a change of clothes
I crossed it in two hours
I am a gazelle so swift
so swift you can’t catch me

For a birthday present when he was three
I gave my son hannibal an elephant
He gave me rome for mother’s day
My strength flows ever on

My son noah built new/ark and
I stood proudly at the helm
as we sailed on a soft summer day
I turned myself into myself and was
jesus
men intone my loving name
All praises All praises
I am the one who would save

I sowed diamonds in my back yard
My bowels deliver uranium
the filings from my fingernails are
semi-precious jewels
On a trip north
I caught a cold and blew
My nose giving oil to the arab world
I am so hip even my errors are correct
I sailed west to reach east and had to round off
the earth as I went
The hair from my head thinned and gold was laid
across three continents

I am so perfect so divine so ethereal so surreal
I cannot be comprehended except by my permission

I mean…I…can fly
like a bird in the sky…

- Ego Tripping (there may be a reason why), Nikki Giovanni

Surely there are other poems that kick this much ass.

So … your turn. (If you wish to share, of course.)

July 28, 2005 – 3:56 pm | By Thomas | Posted in Distractions | Comments (2)
  • http://jenrae.typepad.com/ Jen

    I shot an arrow towards the sky.
    It hit a white cloud floating by.
    The cloud fell dying to the shore.
    I don’t shoot arrows anymore.

    I forget the name of the poem, but it’s Shel Silverstein and my favorite one of his.

  • http://yarg.org El Gray

    Are you aware that the Giovanni poem was on a Blackalicious album (NIA)?

    She also gets name-dropped in “Lady Don’t Tek No” by Latyrx.