Yolande Cornelia “Nikki” Giovanni Jr., Knoxville, TN, June 7, 1943 – December 9, 2024, Blacksburg, VA.
If now isn’t a good time for the truth I don’t see when we’ll get to it. – Nikki Giovanni
I mean she put out an “extended autobiographical statement” (and that wording!) called “Gemini: An Extended Autobiographical Statement My First Twenty-Five Years of Being a Black Poet” so obviously on all the points we are for celebrating this legend always!
Her Gemini brilliance and heart just pierced me with this quote. I mean, what a message for Sag season: to remember that love is the ultimate adventure!
A double Gemini with a Leo Moon, this lady is a writing and thinking legend—all heart. That Leo Moon really shines through (I mean, Geminis don’t usually wax poetic about love, so lol). With her Venus in Cancer– and at the final degree, love, heartache, and even wealth were part of her life’s lessons. So too were smarts, talent, communication, and the mind versus the heart. The final degree is a big test for the soul, bringing intense lessons tied to the sign and especially the house it’s in. Since she also had Jupiter in Cancer, all in the second house, she had help from above (Jupiter represents luck and abundance) to navigate these challenges. Doesn’t mean it was easy. Ooof. Especially with so much Gemini energy, which rules the mind and intellect—a real internal battle.
She also had Saturn in Gemini, which presents challenges, and in the 12th house, so it was happening on in subconscious. But she was able to give that subconscious a voice, as communication is what Geminis do best. Again, doesn’t mean it was easy, but lucky for us she did it.
She also had her North Node in Leo and Chiron in Leo, both in the 3rd house, meaning this work was hard for her, the writing and communicating, but it was also a part of her healing. And ours too.
A legend. Her astrology only makes her success and life’s work that much more profound.
Some of her brilliance below. I suggest you read her poetry. Just wow.
We’ve got to live in the real world. If we don’t like the world we’re living in, change it. And if we can’t change it, we change ourselves. We can do something.
– as told to Claudia Tate in Black Women Writers at Work, Continuum, 1983
All we can do, I believe, is take the love and give the love and try to remember who dreamed dreams of us. And try to be faithful to that.
– Acolytes, 2007
If Black History Month is not / viable then wind does not / carry the seeds and drop them / on fertile ground / rain does not / dampen the land / and encourage the seeds / to root / sun does not / warm the earth / and kiss the seedlings / and tell them plain: / You’re As Good As Anybody Else / You’ve Got A Place Here, Too
– BLK History Month, 2002
The enemy is not men. The enemy is the concept of patriarchy, the concept of patriarchy as the way to run the world or do things is the enemy, patriarchy in medicine, patriarchy in schools, or in literature.
– as told to Toni Morrison in The Last Interview: And Other Conversations, 2020
If you don’t understand yourself you don’t understand anybody else.
– in conversation with James Baldwin, 1971
“There is always something to do. There are hungry people to feed, naked people to clothe, sick people to comfort and make well. And while I don’t expect you to save the world I do think it’s not asking too much for you to love those with whom you sleep, share the happiness of those whom you call friend, engage those among you who are visionary and remove from your life those who offer you depression, despair and disrespect.”
A lot of people resist transition and therefore never allow themselves to enjoy who they are. Embrace the change, no matter what it is; once you do, you can learn about the new world you’re in and take advantage of it.
“Don’t want to be near you for the thoughts we share but the words we never have to speak.”
“You must be unintimidated by your own thoughts because if you write with someone looking over you shoulder, you’ll never write.”
“Deal with yourself as a individual worthy of respect, and make everyone else deal with you the same way.”
“I am so hip even my errors are correct.”
“The problem with love is not what we feel but what we wish we felt when we began to feel we should feel something.”
“And you will understand all too soon
That you, my children of battle, are your heroes”
― Nikki Giovanni, The Collected Poetry, 1968-1998
“I really don’t think life is about the I-could-have-beens. Life is only about the I-tried-to-do. I don’t mind the failure but I can’t imagine that I’d forgive myself if I didn’t try.”
“the world is not a pleasant place to be without someone to hold and be held by.”
“i hope i die
warmed
by the life that i tried
to live”
― Nikki Giovanni, The Collected Poetry, 1968-1998
Wants to know. Has some questions. Very Sag. Always up for pizza. Planning several trips. Big fan of joy. Wants to talk about it. All of them. Is sure we can figure out this whole living thing. Is rooting for you.
