Intimate, edgy, and unapologetic, Blues For All the Changes bears the mark of Nikki Giovanni's unmistakable voice. At once political and intensely personal, this long-awaited volume embodies the fearless passion and wit that have made Nikki Giovanni one of our most accessible poets; her audience defies all boundaries of race, class, age, and style.From the poignant "Stealing Home," Ms. Giovanni's tribute to Jackie Robinson, to the defiant "Road Rage Blues," a jam on time and space, these fifty-one poems challenge the fates and invoke the precarious state of our environment, Giovanni's battle with illness, manners, and other topics seminal to one of our most compassionate, outspoken observers.With a reverence for the power of language, Blues For All the Changes will once again enchant Nikki Giovanni's extensive following and inspire those who are newly discovering her work.

The Wrong Ktchen...

Grandmother would sit me

between her legs

to scratch my dandruff

and unravel my plaits

We didn't know then

dandruff was a sign of nervousness

hives tough emotional decisions

things seen that were better unseen

We thought love could cure

anything a doll here a favorite

caramel cake there

The arguments the slaps the chairs

banging against the wall

the pleas to please stop

would disappear under quilts aired

in fresh air

would be forgotten after Sunday School

teas and presentations for the Book Club

We didn't know then why I played

my radio all night

and why I kept a light burning

We thought back then it was my hair

that was nappy

So we — trying to make it all right —

straightened the wrong kitchen

Poet, activist, mother, and professor, Nikki Giovanni is a three-time NAACP Image Award winner and the first recipient of the Rosa Parks Woman of Courage Award, and holds the Langston Hughes Medal for Outstanding Poetry. The author of twenty-seven books and a Grammy nominee for The Nikki Giovanni Poetry Collection, she is the University Distinguished Professor/English at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia, and an Oprah Living Legend.