Life Cycles Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFGBHI JKLMENBC OPQRSTU| she realized | A |
| she wasn't one | B |
| of life's winners | C |
| when she wasn't sure | D |
| life to her was some dark | E |
| dirty secret that | F |
| like some unwanted child | G |
| too late for an abortion | B |
| was to be borne | H |
| alone | I |
| - | |
| she had so many private habits | J |
| she would masturbate sometimes | K |
| she always picked her nose when upset | L |
| she liked to sit with silence | M |
| in the dark | E |
| sadness is not an unusual state | N |
| for the black woman | B |
| or writers | C |
| - | |
| - | |
| she took to sneaking drinks | O |
| a habit which displeased her | P |
| both for its effects | Q |
| and taste | R |
| yet eventually sleep | S |
| would wrestle her in triumph | T |
| onto the bed | U |
Nikki Giovanni
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
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Kathy Matay: Hello,
We read this poem aloud this morning as part of our "A Poem a Day(ish)" When I went to find it online, your version is the one I found first (thank you!)
In the hardback book version, "The Selected Poems of Nikki Giovanni," the poem is continued on the next page (pp. 203 - 204). The two additional stanzas are:
she was nervous
when he was there
and anxious
when he wasn't
life to her
was a crude cruel joke
played on the livers
she boxed her life
like a special private seed
planting it in her emotional garden
to see what weeds
would rise
to strangle
her
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