Nikki Yolande Giovanni is one of America's most recent poets who gained fame as a writer during the 1960s. Nikki Giovanni, better known as the "poet of the people," wrote in hopes of influencing the Civil Rights Movement and the women's movement. Later on, in her writing career, her areas of writing spread to politics and children's books, allowing a greater audience to relate to what she had to say. Her
             African-American heritage has greatly influenced her writing, leading her to be one of the most widely read poets of today. She was not an author who wrote to entertain, but rather an author who wanted her voice to be heard. Before Nikki's birth, Nikki's family had to flee their home in Albany, Georgia to Knoxville, Tennessee in order to flee persecution by whites because of something her grandmother had said.
             She went to school in a segregated school for girls. Nikki played small roles in the Civil Rights Movement by doing small things such as marching with other blacks to protest a recent hate crime.
             In reading Nikki Giovanni's, Love Poems, I felt that she had been tricked or mistreated by men in her lifetime. But on the other hand, I believe she was also in love. Her poems inspire young people to watch who they are dating and what could happen while being with someone special. Giovanni talks about things that could lead up to sexual intercourse, also. However, men in her life may have cheated and lied to her. In addition, maybe she was deeply in love with a man that just did not treat her like a woman.
             In one way or another, Giovanni is smart, straight to the point, and has emotionally candid poems. But she turns somber and reflective as she expresses the love for a daughter and mother and how a woman's deep down love for a man that far outlasts the giddy romp of a romance. Donna Seaman from Booklist states, "Giovanni is one of America's most popular poets because she speaks her mind clearly and has such a good time doi...