The Collected Poetry of Nikki Giovanni 1969-1998.

by Nikki Giovanni William Morrow, December 2003 $24.95, ISBN 0-060-54133-4

Nikki Giovanni possesses "a unique and distinctive voice" says Virginia Fowler in the introduction to this 438-page volume. This new collection includes seven of Giovanni's best known and loved books, including Black Feeling Black Talk Black Judgement, Re: Creation, My House, The Women and the Men, Cotton Candy on a Rainy Day, and Those Who Ride the Night Winds.

In addition to a revealing and thorough introduction by Fowler, the book includes a useful chronology that lists Giovanni's achievements, books and recordings; notes about her method as a poet, history of the poems, and a collection of additional poems at the rear of the book, titled "Occasional Poems."

This volume of her works will be a valuable addition to the collector's library, for those who are less familiar with her older writing, and for those who have followed the poet's career from early fiery poems like "Nigger Can You Kill," or who relish the music and bravado of "Ego Tripping," or savor the elegance of line in "For Gwendolyn Brooks": "brooks babble/from mountain tops to settle/in collecting the earth's essence."

Jadi Keambiroiro is a writer and poet and associate publisher at Black Classic Press in Baltimore.