Bicycles
Any book by Nikki Giovanni is likely to make the bestseller list, but Bicycles benefits from both serendipitous timing and what could be called the 鈥渓ightning factor.鈥� Ms. Giovanni鈥檚 tone and subject matter offer readers a flash of light and heat, as well as the promise of much-needed relief from difficult times and issues.
The book begins and ends with violence: two shootings, a year apart, that stunned the campus of Virginia Tech, where Giovanni teaches. In 鈥�Blacksburg Under Siege: 21 August 2006,鈥� the opening poem, Giovanni conveys what locals experienced 鈥� from anger to cold, almost detached fear 鈥� but says of both emotion and analysis that 鈥渋t sure doesn鈥檛 make us safe.鈥�
Giovanni then takes a sharp, unexpected turn out of the darkness with 鈥淚n Simpler Times.鈥� The title alone brings a sigh of relief, as does the speaker鈥檚 benign acknowledgment that:
I talk to myself
People think I am on my phone
In simpler days
I would have been considered聽聽聽 聽聽聽 聽聽聽 聽聽聽 strange
people would feel sorry
For me.
Readers don鈥檛 feel sorry for her, though, because she lightens their experience 鈥� and her own 鈥� with an enviable admission: 鈥淚t鈥檚 easy to see/ The delight I am taking/ In this life/ I am always smiling/ I am in love.鈥�
From there, Giovanni explores various aspects of romantic love: longing to be with her beloved, aching when they are apart, missing opportunities for closeness, and feeling that the whole world shimmers and moves to silent rhythms. In 鈥淢igrations,鈥� one of the strongest poems, she explores those forces 鈥� call them instinct? 鈥� that drive wild creatures from one seasonal home to another.
The poem begins:
The sun returns
To the arctic circle
From its winter rest
The grasses sprout
Seducing the winged
And the hoofed
Polar bears and their cubs
Must flee
Before the ice
Breaks up...
There鈥檚 a subtle shift in the poem鈥檚 last lines, and the speaker, who has been just a witness until now, responds with the same strength or drive as the animals that
... unflinchingly face:
Hunger
Thirst
Predators
Winds
Rains
Uncertainties
As would I
For you
Page after page reinforces the idea that love is not just an archetypal need, but that it 鈥� and goodness 鈥� is an antidote to the world鈥檚 craziness. In 鈥淓verything Good is Simple,鈥� Giovanni writes: 鈥淎ll things good is good: poetry ... patience ... a ripe tomato on the/ vine ... a bat in flight ... the new moon ... me in your arms .../ things like that.鈥�
Some may question the value of simplicity, but many of the poems in 鈥淏icycles鈥� are lovely and moving; they really work as poetry. Others sound like pronouncements from a friend who can鈥檛 refrain from sharing her glee or wisdom. Both are likely to contribute to the book鈥檚 popularity.
But the final poem shows the limit of art that receives some of its power from the headlines. 鈥淲e Are Virginia Tech鈥� should leave readers feeling deeply stirred and whispering 鈥渨ow鈥� under their breath. The opening line, which repeats the title, hints at a bold resolve that the school can overcome memories of the April 2007 tragedy. So does the repetition of 鈥渨e will prevail鈥� toward the end of the poem.
Between those sections, however, Giovanni writes 鈥淲e know we did nothing to deserve it/ But neither does the child in Africa/ dying of AIDS.鈥� She also mentions children in Iraq, Mexico, and Appalachia, and orphaned baby elephants. Those leaps just don鈥檛 satisfy, since they ask readers to supply the depth of emotion that Giovanni, at her best, is capable of making her readers feel.
When it works 鈥� which is much of the time 鈥� 鈥淏icycles鈥� is powered as much by Giovanni鈥檚 warmth and authenticity as by her words.
Elizabeth Lund regularly reviews poetry for the Monitor.
