Something to Read: ‘A Good Cry’

At times like these
We measure our words
Because we are
Measuring a life

-Nikki Giovanni

On my shelves sit four books by the poet Nikki Giovanni. Three of the four are signed. In October of 2019, the community was invited to hear Giovanni speak at Swarthmore College on “Grit, Grace, and Glow: Celebrating Black Excellence.” I missed the event, but my mother-in-law’s sister went up there with arms full of books for the poet to sign. She then gifted some of them to my children and me the following Christmas. 

Each of the collections has its own wisdom, but these days I find myself retreating most often into the verses of “A Good Cry.” In particular, I read and reread the poems Giovanni wrote for her grandmother and Maya Angelou. The verses capture two powerful women as well as Giovanni’s grief at their loss. 

It has been nearly a year since my own grandmother died. I will celebrate my birthday later this month, and I am acutely aware that this will be my first birthday without her. In Giovanni’s poems, I find the space for the sweetness of the years I was blessed to spend with her, and the bitterness of knowing she now exists only in memory. 

You can find copies of “A Good Cry” in the local library system or your nearest independent bookseller.