(Feb. 23, 2006)
GIOVANNI CALLS FOR NEW
STATE MOTTO:''OHIO, HOME
OF WRITERS''
Ohio should adopt a new state
motto, poet Nikki Giovanni told a
Friday afternoon gathering of
about 50 University of Dayton
students, faculty and staff.
''Our motto should be 'Ohio, Home
of Writers.' We have much better
writers than we do presidents. …
As we look at (Paul Laurence) Dunbar, we need to change our motto. Ohio should be known for our imagination," she said.
Born in Knoxville, Tenn., the outspoken 62-year-old poet grew up in the Lincoln Heights neighborhood of Cincinnati and now teaches English at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va. Herbert Woodward Martin, UD's poet-in-residence and professor emeritus of English, convinced her to come to campus 33 years ago when he staged a three-day birthday bash to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Dunbar's birth. It's fitting that she returned to campus this month to help UD and the Dayton community commemorate Dunbar's legacy on the centennial of his death.
''I can't believe it's been 33 years. It couldn't be 33 years. I just live down the street,'' she said to laughter. ''We're to be buried in Springboro where my father was buried."
In an evening presentation at the Victoria Theatre before a diverse crowd of more than 1,000 people, Giovanni read her poetry and shared stories and quips about the black experience. During an informal 90-minute chat at UD, Giovanni rambled about rap and politics, the blank page and the blank mind.
''I'm a big fan of rap music and the hip-hop generation,'' she said, noting admiration for Tupac Shakur and Kanye West. ''You can rap to Dunbar. What does that say about how it (his poetry) lives?"
Not one to shy away from politics or religion, she labeled wars ''old and old-fashioned." It's time for the United States ''to move into the 21st century and reposition ourselves." Later, she called for an 11th commandment: ''Thou Shalt Not Have So Much That Others Have Nothing."
In answer to a student's question about what advice she would offer to a young poet searching to make his poems more meaningful, she responded, ''What you need to do is talk to the page. Get into the habit of talking to the paper. The more you do it, the more you can call it up. You can't wait on inspiration. That's the skill of writing. It's an art, but also a skill. Don't be scared."
A prolific writer who survived lung cancer in 1995, Giovanni has written more than two dozen books over the past three decades, including the recent award-winning children's book Rosa about the black seamstress who refused to give up her seat to a white passenger on a Montgomery, Ala., bus. Her poems first emerged during the civil rights and black arts movements of the 1960s, and she's been tagged ''The Princess of Black Poetry" by the New York Times.
She believes in writing down a good line that comes to mind because ''it's folly'' to think it will come back. Yet she also advocates clearing the mind.
''Everyone wants you to use every minute. Everyone wants you to be productive. There are times you just need to inhale and let your mind come back to you," she said.
Giovanni's appearance was co-sponsored by the English department and the Diversity Lecture Series.
