The poetry of Nikki Giovanni has spurred movements, turned hearts and informed generations. She’s been hailed as a firebrand, a radical, a healer, and a sage; a wise and courageous voice who has spoken out on the sensitive issues, including race and gender, that touch our national consciousness.

As energetic and relevant as ever, Nikki now offers us an intimate, affecting, and illuminating look at her personal history and the mysteries of her own heart. In A Good Cry, she takes us into her confidence, describing the joy and peril of aging and recalling the violence that permeated her parents’ marriage and her early life. She pays homage to the people who have given her life meaning and joy: her grandparents, who took her in and saved her life; the poets and thinkers who have influenced her; and the students who have surrounded her. Nikki also celebrates her good friend, Maya Angelou, and the many years of friendship, poetry, and kitchen-table laughter they shared before Angelou’s death in 2014.

I had no idea Grandmother had to beg A white man to let me enroll in Austin High Where I needed clothes From Miller and Rich’s Shoes a coat and stuff All I knew then Was the sound Of my father hitting My mother every Saturday Night until I heard Her say ‘Gus, please Don’t hit me.’ And I knew my choice: Leave or kill him Both were sad I am in the hospital Room With yellow tulips From Nancy and Diana And a beautiful bouquet From the English Department I am trying to learn how to cry It’s not that my life has been a lie But that I repressed My tears.
-From Baby West