Loose Leaf Notes

 Nikki Giovanni has style, not only as a poet and in the way she conducts herself, but in her appearance. In this case, as the guest of honor at the re-launching of the literary art journal Artemis, it was from head to toe. She was sporting some stylish cornrows and shiny blue shoes.

I didn’t feel so bad about missing most of my grandson Bryce’s birthday last week because I had the time wrong, when I learned that Nikki had forgotten that the reading was Friday night. She was only off by one day, due to some international travel jet lag, she told us apologetically when she arrived on stage at the June McBroom Theater in the Community High School in Roanoke.

Always gracious and community-minded, Nikki made the trip from Blacksburg (and did it in 30 minutes) as soon as she received the reminder call from Artemis founder Jeri Rogers (above on the left). Not only that, she turned what could have been viewed as a setback into a good story to tell.

Let me tell you, Nikki Giovanni is worth the wait. And it was hardly a wait because during the 45 minute delay, Artemis contributors were called to the stage to read their poetry. Done in tag team fashion, with one reader calling up another, it was unplanned and fun, in a Russian Roulette sort of way, I, who has a poem in the new issue and who struggles with stage fright, said to my neighbor. By the time I didn’t get called up, I had prepared myself to read, just in case.

Whether teaching a writing class at Virginia Tech (and I know because I audited a few of her classes sometime in the early ’90s) or doing public readings, Nikki makes it all feel like she’s just hanging out. Her storytelling is engaging and her poetry is energetic and infectious. She read from her latest book Chasing Utopia, named after a funny story about her misunderstood search for the rare Utopia beer, which is made by Sam Adams and cost more than $200 a bottle. We learned that even the CIA couldn’t help her locate the specialty beverage that she wanted to drink in honor of her recently passed mother, sister and aunt.

She spoke about surviving cancer and losing loved ones, and read poems about cooking, falling in love in her ’60s, coming to terms with growing up with a father who abused her mother, the Civil War and more. She also read what I think of her signature poem, Ego Tripping. That poem appears in the new issue, which is dedicated to her.

Nikki’s style extends to her inner forearm, which bears a unique tattoo, THUG LIFE, in honor of slain hip hop rapper Tupac Shakur. After her reading, Nikki, a longtime civil rights activist, graciously interacted with guests. She signed Artemis journals, answered questions, listened to a young poet recite his poem, and showed her tattooed arm to someone who asked about it. She explained that she was a fan of Tupac’s music, which revolves around racism and the violence and hardships of inner city life, but, as the mother of a son, she was thinking of Tupac’s mother when she got the tattoo.

There was a strong contingency of Floyd Countians at the launch event, including event hosts Rogers and the journal’s layout designer Virginia Lepley, both from Floyd. Of the 80 contributors of poetry and photography, I recognized at least eight as being from Floyd. At the reading I saw familiar faces from Floyd, Blacksburg and Roanoke.

Several Blue Mountain High School students (where my husband is director) were asked to stand and take a bow for their work on the project as interns, helping with design, production and the contributor selection process. With a theme on connection to place and nature, the issue features first time contributors, including two of the BMHS interns, alongside established ones. “This was the highlight of my year,” said one student about the event and personally meeting Nikki.

P.S. Utopia beer was the first thing I googled after the reading. We also stopped at Barnes and Noble and bought Nikki’s book of the same name.

Post notes:  The last photo first appeared in The Floyd Press.  To read more about Artemis and its history, click HERE. Listen to Nikki read Ego Tripping at the book launch HERE.  Read a post about my experience sitting in on Nikki’s classes HERE.