The Role of the Artist--For Whom Do You Write?

I was recently recently looking through Nikki Giovanni's collection, Acolytes. In one brief piece, she states that there is really only one thing a new writer needs to know, and that is who they are writing to please. The rest will come. Giovanni explains that she writes for her ancestors, who endured slavery and hardship, for family and friends in the American Civil Rights struggle, and for those women who raised and instructed her; she writes, and does so in a manner that she believes will make them proud.

Writing Prompt

What's your motivation? Who are you writing for?

Let's Take A Walk With Nikki Giovanni

Writing Prompt

Nikki Giovanni is a poet who's work is easy to revisit. Whenever I open a book of her poems, I find a bit that seems as if I'd written it myself. With her simple and direct voice, she creates a sense of intimacy, the intimacy of old friends meeting for tea or a slice of pizza; because her work shines with honesty, the stories she tells become real.

Click on the title of this post to visit the Smithsonian Folkways website and listen to Giovanni's poem, Boxes. The poem can be found in her collection cotton candy on a rainy day.

What boxes hold you? How do you plan leave them? Do you want to leave them?