Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)Nikki Giovanni's "Blues: For All the Changes: New Poems" opens with the following quote from Alberta Hunter, "People think the blues is sad. They hear people moaning and such. That's not the blues. That's just somebody singing slow....The blues is about truth-telling," which is exactly what Giovanni's collection does-tells the truth. The collection is divided into two sections; "flatted thirds and sevenths" and "fugue." I have to admit, not know much about the blues, I had to look up both of these terms. Flatted thirds and sevenths are blues notes and fugue is a technique of composition for a fixed number of parts. The collection is interpresed with what initially looks like prose but upon closer reading there is a lack of punctuation that forces the reader to read to a certain rhyme and rhythm.
Although I found the entire collection intriguing, one of my favorites was "Writing Lessons." "Writing Lessons" is a poem about (not to sound like a cliché) living life to the fullest. The poem begins by stating all the things there are still to do in life, "There are...still...so many books I want to read...and reread.../There are...still...so many places I want to travel...to..." and ends with this writing advice, "If I were giving advice I would say: Sing/People who sing to themselves/People who make variations on songs they know/People who teach songs to other people/These are the people other people want to be with/and that will let you be a good writer/Because/T here are...still...so many ideas to conceive."
Overall, Giovanni's collection is great not only for those who are already Giovanni fans or those who love the blues, but for anyone who loves poetry. It is not about the blues, it is about truth-telling.
Click Here to see more reviews about: Blues: For All the Changes: New Poems
Get 60% OFF
Click here for more information about Blues: For All the Changes: New Poems
0 comments:
Post a Comment