In the following excerpt, Cook explores the scope of Giovanni's poetry and her presence as a Southern poet.

In her first collection of poems, Giovanni expresses themes anticipated by the title Black Feeling, Black Talk. But already she demonstrates occasionally her gift for the original, individual image, for example, as she evokes the days and places of childhood in "Poem (For BMC No. 2)":

There were fields where once we walked
Among the clover and crab grass and those
Funny little things that look like cotton candy

There were liquids expanding and contracting
In which we swam with amoebas and other Afro-
Americans

This poem is a striking contrast to the bestknown poem from this volume, "The True Import of Present Dialogue, Black vs. Negro (For Peppe, Who Will Ultimately Judge Our Efforts)," with its repetition of the lines "Nigger / Can you kill." Like "Nikki-Rosa" and "Knoxville, Tennessee...