by Nikki Giovanni
My mother died
13 or 14 years
Ago
I took the flowers
Home
And put most in
Water
The gift of life
They sit by the window
In the sunnyside
Of my bedroom
And the roots
Have taken hold
Sometimes a leaf
Will yellow
And I pull it off
It is dead
And there must be
Room
For a new leaf
Things that are dead
Cannot be saved
My mother will always
Live in my heart
All nazis must be
Picked
And thrown
Away
January ??, 2026
Sadly, we lost the great Nikki Giovanni in December of last year. “Vines” is excerpted from Giovanni’s THE NEW BOOK published posthumously by William Morrow Books in September 2025.
Photo courtesy William Morrow.
