Nikki Giovanni

Similarly to other members of the Black Arts Movement, Nikki Giovanni felt there was by necessity a strong connection between poetry and music. Her poems are very moving, sincere and intimate. The very personal experiences that Giovanni shares seem to resonate, however, with a much larger communal experience of life for African Americans.
“I wanted to write a poem that rhymes but revolution doesn’t lend itself to be-bopping,” Giovanni writes in ‘For Saundra.’ She expresses the need for free form and innovation both in her language and in her style. The revolution she refers to seems to be all encompassing. It is a revolution of prose, or music, of social structures and norms. Like many of the other writers in the Black Arts Movement, Giovanni manages to bring all of these seamlessly together in her works. The musicality of her prose is striking and original.