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Yesterday, we celebrated a newly constructed ramp and staircase to the colorful basketball courts at Cal Johnson Park, one of our most popular and heavily utilized community centers.
Poet Nikki Giovanni, who has been in my thoughts since she died in December 2024, played in this park as a child. A quote from one of her poems is painted on the wall of the court: “ALL THE WHILE I WAS QUITE HAPPY."
What an intriguing phrase! It's the last line of her poem ‘Nikki-Rosa," which I share below for your inspiration and reflection.
Take care of yourselves and your neighbors, and enjoy this taste of Spring weather,
Indya
"Nikki-Rosa"
BY NIKKI GIOVANNI
childhood remembrances are always a drag
if you’re Black
you always remember things like living in Woodlawn
with no inside toilet
and if you become famous or something
they never talk about how happy you were to have
your mother
all to yourself and
how good the water felt when you got your bath
from one of those
big tubs that folk in chicago barbecue in
and somehow when you talk about home
it never gets across how much you
understood their feelings
as the whole family attended meetings about Hollydale
and even though you remember
your biographers never understand
your father’s pain as he sells his stock
and another dream goes
And though you’re poor it isn’t poverty that
concerns you
and though they fought a lot
it isn’t your father’s drinking that makes any difference
but only that everybody is together and you
and your sister have happy birthdays and very good
Christmases
and I really hope no white person ever has cause
to write about me
because they never understand
Black love is Black wealth and they’ll
probably talk about my hard childhood
and never understand that
all the while I was quite happy
Copyright credit: Nikki Giovanni, “Nikki-Rosa” from Black Feeling, Black Talk, Black Judgment. Copyright © 1968, 1970 by Nikki Giovanni.
Used with the permission of HarperCollins Publishers. Source: The Collected Poetry of Nikki Giovanni (2003)
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