In her early work, Nikki Giovanni expressed the militant themes of the Black Arts Movement. In 1970 Giovanni introduced her third volume of poetry Re:Creation, which included her classic poem Ego – Tripping. This was followed by Night Comes Softly one of the earliest anthologies of Black Women’s poetry.
Ego Tripping is a rhythmic celebration of the speaker’s power and pride in both her African heritage and her womanhood over eight stanzas. The poem features unusual capitalization, as only the personal pronouns “I” and “My” are capitalized despite the presence of many proper nouns throughout the poem.
Nikki Giovanni – Ego Tripping – Albany State University 2014 Poetry Festival
Ego Tripping (there may be a reason why)
Nikki Giovanni
I was born in the congo
I walked to the fertile crescent and built
the sphinx
I designed a pyramid so tough that a star
that only glows every one hundred years falls
into the center giving divine perfect light
I am bad
I sat on the throne
drinking nectar with allah
I got hot and sent an ice age to europe
to cool my thirst
My oldest daughter is nefertiti
the tears from my birth pains
created the nile
I am a beautiful woman
I gazed on the forest and burned
out the sahara desert
with a packet of goat’s meat
and a change of clothes
I crossed it in two hours
I am a gazelle so swift
so swift you can’t catch me
For a birthday present when he was three
I gave my son hannibal an elephant
He gave me rome for mother’s day
My strength flows ever on
My son noah built new/ark and
I stood proudly at the helm
as we sailed on a soft summer day
I turned myself into myself and was
jesus
men intone my loving name
All praises All praises
I am the one who would save
I sowed diamonds in my back yard
My bowels deliver uranium
the filings from my fingernails are
semi-precious jewels
On a trip north
I caught a cold and blew
My nose giving oil to the arab world
I am so hip even my errors are correct
I sailed west to reach east and had to round off
the earth as I went
The hair from my head thinned and gold was laid
across three continents
I am so perfect so divine so ethereal so surreal
I cannot be comprehended
except by my permission
I mean . . . I . . . can fly
like a bird in the sky . . .
Remembering the fierce and lyrical voice of poet Nikki Giovanni
