A Historical Footnote to Consider Only When All Else Fails

In this poem written by Nikki Giovanni she seems to express many issues within the poem. This does not surprise a reader who is familiar of her work, mainly because of her style of writing. Nikki Giovanni is more of a topic based writer, meaning writing about the truth as she sees it, and expressing the issue that are in the world she lives in. The issue that is present within this poem is the views of woman and also how woman portray themselves in that day in time. In the first stanza it states that "While it is true (through only in a factual sense) that in the wake of a Her-I-can comes a shower Surely I am not The gravitating force that keeps this house full of panthers" This stanza is important because it introduces the main issue. When one thinks of the word shower, one tends to think of a lot of things coming down at once, but in this case it symbolizes; because shes a woman she is surrounded by in this case, panthers all at once. The panthers seem to symbolize men because men are seen as predators, and as a predator you seek for prey which is the woman in this case. However Nikki expresses how she does not understand why they shower over her because she is not "The gravitating force" meaning she is not doing anything to tease the panthers (men) or to attract them, so why do they surround her? Why did Nikki Giovanni choose a panther to symbolize men rather than a tiger, lion, or any other predator. Panthers are creatures known to only have black fur, and in this day and time of 1968 panthers were associated with black people, expressing black power, and strength. So one can infer that the panthers don't only symbolize men but black men specifically. Throughout the entire poem I noticed the motifs of Desire, Corruption, and Truth. I see Desire because in this poem men seem to prey over women, wanting them, and desire only pleasure which is evident in the line "He doesn't give a Good goddamn what I think (else why would he continue to masterbate in public?" I see Corruption because in this poem Nikki expresses how some women rebel by exposing themselves sexually. This becomes evident in the line "We must move on to the true issues of our time like the mini-skirt Rebellion" I also see truth, well in this case Nikki's truth, in what she feels is what people need to do, which is seen in the last stanza "So let us work for our day of Presence When Stokely is in The Black House And all will be right with Our world" The poem expresses many issues, and discusses many truths that will impact many.