SOURCE: "Hustler and Fabulist," in Time, Vol. 99, No. 3, January 17, 1972, pp. 63-4.

In the following review of Gemini, Duffy argues that Giovanni has crafted both a memoir and a manifesto about her life.

         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.

These proud words come from Nikki Giovanni's best-known poem, Nikki-Rosa. At 28, she is one of the most talented and promising black poets. She is also one of the most visible, not only because she is beautiful but because she is a shrewd and energetic propagandist. In this interim autobiography, both poet and propagandist underscore that point about black love and happiness. Part memoir and part manifesto, it is a plain-spoken, lively, provocative, confusing book.

The...