The Poetry Stash: 5February2025

Nikki Giovanni and James Baldwin in conversation

In celebration of Black History Month, here is conversation between writers Nicki Giovanni and James Baldwin. This conversation was taped in London in 1971 as part of a two-part presentation of WNET’s “SOUL!”. To watch the video on YouTube click here.

Prompts:

1.	Begin with “I think the legend itself is…”
2.	Begin with “God is our responsibility…”
3.	Begin with “Love is the problem…”
4.	Begin with “if you lose your center…”
5.	Begin with “The price of being…”
6.	Begin with “It’s the fault of the power.”
7.	Begin with “I couldn’t play my mother.”
8.	Begin with “I’ll never walk that slowly.”
9.	Begin with “It’s not eternal.”
10.	Draft a poem that is a conversation between two people who approach topics from different perspectives, who agree to disagree.

5. Photo by Marek Kupiec via pexels.com. Use the image as a writing prompt.

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