When Nikki Giovanni's poems first emerged during the Black Arts Movement in the 1960s, she immediately took her place among the most celebrated, controversial, and influential poets of the era. Now, more than thirty years later, Giovanni remains one of the most lucid, lyrical, and commanding voices to grace America's political and poetic landscape. This omnibus collection covers three decades of Nikki Giovanni's complete poetic works, from 1968 through 1998. Arranged chronologically, with a biographical timeline and introduction, indexes of titles and first lines, and extensive notes to the poems, this collection is the testimony of a life and a life's work, luminously reflecting the changes Giovanni has undergone as a black woman, lover, mother, teacher, and artist. A timeless classic, intensely personal, and fiercely political, The Collected Poetry of Nikki Giovanni is a brilliant and powerful evocation of a nation's past and present from one of our most compassionate, vibrant observers.