Nikki Giovanni: Poems
Which of the following is a main theme in “Visible Ink”?
In many respects Samson was a vain . . . if not actually silly man . . . certainly he knew of his strength…though he mistakenly thought it was his hair . . . and not the God . . . who gave it to him
Biblical strong man who lost his strength after his hair was cut by the woman he loved—Delilah, who was his downfall.
Achilles strength was thought to be water . . . he was dipped in . . . not the faith of his mother . . . who took him to the river
Greek mythological hero who, as a child, was dipped in the river Styx by his goddess mother in an attempt to protect his body from wounds. She held him by the heel as she dipped him, and his “Achilles heel” became the only vulnerable spot on his body.
Women count on their looks . . . adolescents their youth . . . yet we all look for a champion . . . we all believe in some sort of magic . . . whether it is the state lottery or a long shot at the races . . . we turn to some sort of otherness . . . to change our luck
Superman fell in love . . . with Lois and was willing . . . to give up his great powers for her . . . in order to marry Wallis Simpson, Edward . . . gave up the throne of England . . . One wonders not if the right thing was done . . . but if what was given . . . was worth what was taken . . . the very nature of sacrifice says: There is no Parity . . . One does what one must in order to be a whole . . . complete . . . human
British king (Edward VIII) who fell in love with Wallis Simpson, an American socialite, and gave up the throne before completing his first year as king in order to marry her
Parity: equality
And then there is that cry . . . that cry of Samson who recognized his own foolishness . . . that cry of Superman who finally realized he was indeed . . . more than mortal man . . . and must face his destiny . . . we don’t know the thoughts of Malcolm X or Martin L. King Jr., we can’t know the deeper thought of the Brown family as they sent Linda off to school . . . we might guess that Emmett Till’s mother wishes she could take her boy back . . . as we might understand Afeni Shakur begging her son: Honey, wake up and let’s go home . . . The greatest heroes probably have no idea . . . how heroic they are
Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. were both Civil Rights activists who were assassinated in the late 1960s
Linda Brown was a black elementary student in Kansas whose parents fought for school integration in 1954. Their battle reached the Supreme Court and the case “Brown v. Board of Education” led to the desegregation of schools in 1954.
Afeni Shakur: mother of Tupac Shakur, a black activist/musician. In 1996, Tupac Shakur was shot four times and died six days later.
Most people think of heroes as saving children from flaming buildings or pulling housewives from automobile wrecks . . . but it is . . . indeed . . . heroic to pay one’s bills at the end of the month . . . to go to church on Sundays and sing in the choir . . . to referee a softball game or teach some child to make apple cobbler
The heroes of our time do the ordinary things that must be done . . . whether we are applauded or not . . . most of us are good people . . . most of us want to do the right things . . . we want to be loving to our families . . . caring for our elderly . . . wise for our young . . . we want to be a hero in our own eyes . . . we celebrate the true Champions of the 20th Century . . . because they went one step further.
They willingly made a sacrifice of time . . . fortune . . . and in some cases their lives . . . to make life on the planet a more meaningful experience . . . that they are African American can come as no surprise . . . the African American has continually stepped up when the right . . . the good . . . the proper . . . needed to be counted
The champions of the 20th Century have put their lives . . . their hopes . . . their best wishes . . . on the line so that future generations will sing the praises of our people . . . who continue to know . . . where the strength comes from
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