INSTRUCTIONS
Respond to the following questions in full and thoughtfully. Your responses should be drafted in 12-point font and double-spaced.
According to “Poetry is Not a Luxury,” what is the role of poetry in women’s survival? Why must women write poems according to Lorde?
What do you ascertain Sanchez means in the poem “Malcolm” when she says – “what might have been is not for him/or me but what could have been floods the womb until I die.”? (This poem was written after Malcolm X was assasinated.)
Nikki Giovanni makes the point that African American lives are often misunderstood by those who aren’t Black in her poem “Nikki-Rosa.” What in her poem might be misunderstood, and why? What are some things about your life/upbringing that may be misunderstood by folks who may not share your culture?
In what way(s) is Giovanni’s poem “Ego Tripping” reminiscent of Langston Hughes’ “The Negro Speaks of Rivers?”
“All I Gotta Do” expresses frustration over the role of females in the Black Arts Movement and the civil rights struggles more generally. How does this poem function alongside a poem like “Beautiful Black Men”? Can the two coexist comfortably?
Women and the Black Power Movement https://youtu.be/j-OMR3h4Isw?si=3PBe2h4exO_Ml8nk
https://poets.org/poem/not-small-voice
https://poets.org/poem/poem-july-4-1994
https://voetica.com/poem/6175
https://www.afropoets.net/nikkigiovanni17.html
Revolutionary Dreams By Nikki Giovanni
I used to dream militant dreams
of taking over america to show
these white folks
how it should be done
I used to dream radical dreams
of blowing everyone away
with my perceptive powers
of correct analysis
I even used to think I’d be the one
to stop the riot and
negotiate the peace
then I awoke and dug
that if I dreamed natural
dreams of being a natural
woman doing what a woman
does when she’s natural
I would have a revolution.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/48219/nikki-rosa
https://poets.org/poem/ego-tripping-there-may-be-reason-why
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