Full Poem:
so he said: you ain’t got no talent
if you didn’t have a face
you wouldn’t be nobody
and she said: god created heaven and earth
and all that’s Black within them
so he said: you ain’t really no hot shit
they tell me plenty sisters
take care better business than you
and she said: on the third day he made chitterlings
and all good things to eat
and said: “that’s good”
so he said: if the white folks hadn’t been under
yo skirt and been giving you the big play
you’d a had to come on uptown like everybody else
and she replied: then he took a big Black greasy rib
from adam and said we will call this woeman and her
name will be sapphire and she will divide into four parts
that simone may sing a song
and he said: you pretty full of yourself ain’t chu
so she replied: show me someone not full of herself
and i’ll show you a hungry person
Part-By-Part Analysis:
“so he said: you ain’t got no talent
if you didn’t have a face
you wouldn’t be nobody
and she said: god created heaven and earth
and all that’s Black within them”
At the beginning of the poem, we are instantly given a dialogue to follow between a man and a woman. The Tittle itself seems to refer directly to one side of this conversation, highlighting specifically the woman's voice over the man. Interestingly enough the poem seems to start in the middle of the conversation rather than at the beginning. Though as part of the audience we are not privy to the context of the dialogue it seems that the two characters are engaged in an argument or debate. The man is intent on proving himself to be at a higher point than his female counterpart but as far as dialogue is concerned his use of slang is harming his case. The woman's dialogue at the beginning of the work does not seem to correspond with the man, instead giving the feeling that she is intentionally ignoring the man's remarks or showing that they mean little to her in terms of her own visions of herself. The man is relying on the unknowns to shape his argument, creating a fantasy that he can live in without having to come to terms with his own shortcomings. The woman, however, is stable in her views of reality, and this allows her to see past his insults and reveal the insecurities behind his words.
“so he said: you ain’t really no hot shit
they tell me plenty sisters
take care better business than you
and she said: on the third day he made chitterlings
and all good things to eat
and said: ‘that’s good’”
The conversation continues on a one-sided path here as the man continues to spiral. Now, instead of focusing on his target, he tries to shake the woman by comparing her to other black women. The woman is still strong in her own beliefs. She does not lower herself to the man's level by trying to argue with him, instead continuing on with her discussion of biblical creation.
“so he said: if the white folks hadn’t been under
yo skirt and been giving you the big play
you’d a had to come on uptown like everybody else
and she replied: then he took a big Black greasy rib
from Adam and said we will call this woeman and her
name will be sapphire and she will divide into four parts
that simone may sing a song”
Here the woman's dialogue starts to match a little more with the man. Both characters are speaking on gender now but there are some self-imposed changes to the normal Christian creation story that people recognize. The woman changes the name of her idea of ‘Eve’ to Sapphire. I personally wonder if this change is meant to be a relation of women to jewels or precious things. The man focuses again on the woman as his primary target, stating that her sexuality was the reason for her success rather than her merits.
“and he said: you pretty full of yourself ain’t chu
so she replied: show me someone not full of herself
and i’ll show you a hungry person”
At this point in the poem, it becomes clear that the woman has been not just aware of the man's insecurities, but that she has been biding her time in the conversation, waiting for the right moment to use the man's dialogue against him. She does not try to convince the man or the audience that she is not full of herself, instead, she implies that everyone in some way is full of themselves. Her ability to stay honest about her own faults and turn them into strengths shows a maturity that reveals the man’s weaknesses even further.
Writing Style:
I found the work amusing and empowering. It is so easy to get sucked into arguments and useless fights over things that will not matter in an hour. One of the worst parts of this is we usually get mad at ourselves for letting another person's behavior get to us when there may have been plenty of ways to avoid that outcome. Nikki Giovani is able to use the dialogue in her poem to show an example of this situation, without an explanation of the setting or story setup. Even though the story itself starts in the middle, it still captures the attention of the audience while painting a very real problem regarding the behavior of people towards each other.
Themes:
Religion
Gender (the battle of the sexes)
Sexuality
Interracial relations
Race
More About the Author:
More of her works:
Nikki-Rosa
Legacies
Laws of Motion
Rosa Parks
No Complaints
Comments