Bicycles: Love Poems [9780061726491]

Overview

In her legendary career, artist and activist Nikki Giovanni has established herself as a writer who can entertain and challenge, and a voice for social justice who can inform and inspire in times of national crisis. Controversial, revolutionary, ethereal, or illuminating, her poems about race, Black lives, violence, gender, and family move readers of all ages and backgrounds.

With BICYCLES, she’s collected poems that serve as a companion to her 1997 LOVE POEMS. An instant classic, that book—romantic, bold, and erotic—expressed notions of love in ways that were delightfully unexpected. In the years that followed, Giovanni experienced losses both public and private. A mother’s passing, a sister’s, too. A massacre on the campus at which she teaches. And just when it seemed life was spinning out of control, Giovanni rediscovered love—what she calls the antidote. Here romantic love—and all its manifestations, the physical touch, the emotional pull, the hungry heart—is distilled as never before by one of our most talented poets. In a time of national crisis or personal crisis, this is a collection that will open minds and change hearts as only the best art can.

"If there was a need for poetry that galvanized and inspired, there was also a demand for poetry that comforted and unified — and Ms. Giovanni provided on both counts." — The Washington Post

How do we find love again when the world is spinning out of control?

• Love and Loss: Find solace in tender, honest poems written in the wake of personal grief and public tragedy, where love is rediscovered as the ultimate antidote.
• Social Justice Poetry: Unflinching reflections on race, Black lives, and the Virginia Tech massacre from one of America’s most vital activist voices.
• Bold and Erotic Verse: Experience the physical touch, the emotional pull, and the hungry heart of romantic love, captured with the sensuality that made Giovanni a legend.
• A Companion to a Classic: A powerful follow-up to her beloved 1997 collection, LOVE POEMS, that deepens and expands on a lifetime of contemplating love.