[joeclarke]

This poem by Nikki is so deep, it put me in a deep sleep.(Evidently, looking at the wording, it also put her in a deep sleep)

“I’m Not Lonely”

i’m not lonely
sleeping all alone

you think i’m scared
but i’m a big girl
i don’t cry
or anything

i have a great
big bed
to roll around
in and lots of space
and idon’t dream
bad dreams
like i used
to have that you
were leaving me
anymore

now that you’re gone
i don’t dream
and no matter
what you think
i’m not lonely
sleeping
all alone

[joeclarke]

My favorite Nikki poem because it exposes her fragility and humility, except which she says, “My bowels deliver uranium.” That sounds like a terrorist threat of some kind.

“Ego Tripping (there may be a reason why)”

I was born in the congo
I walked to the fertile crescent and built
the sphinx
I designed a pyramid so tough that a star
that only glows every one hundred years falls
into the center giving divine perfect light
I am bad

I sat on the throne
drinking nectar with allah
I got hot and sent an ice age to europe
to cool my thirst
My oldest daughter is nefertiti
the tears from my birth pains
created the nile
I am a beautiful woman

I gazed on the forest and burned
out the sahara desert
with a packet of goat’s meat
and a change of clothes
I crossed it in two hours
I am a gazelle so swift
so swift you can’t catch me

For a birthday present when he was three
I gave my son hannibal an elephant
He gave me rome for mother’s day
My strength flows ever on

My son noah built new/ark and
I stood proudly at the helm
as we sailed on a soft summer day
I turned myself into myself and was
jesus
men intone my loving name
All praises All praises
I am the one who would save

I sowed diamonds in my back yard
My bowels deliver uranium
the filings from my fingernails are
semi-precious jewels
On a trip north
I caught a cold and blew
My nose giving oil to the arab world
I am so hip even my errors are correct
I sailed west to reach east and had to round off
the earth as I went
The hair from my head thinned and gold was laid
across three continents

I am so perfect so divine so ethereal so surreal
I cannot be comprehended except by my permission

I mean...I...can fly
like a bird in the sky...

[merry10]

I have to say, this sounds like poetry I wrote for my freshman creative writing class back in 1979. Huh. If I had known how good my writing was then (since it was similar to her current writing) I too could have gone on to be a poet laureate.