‘‘Winter’’ the speaker’s preparations hold
the promise of change and hope. The airing of
quilts provide a clue to the poet’s expectation
that the promises of the 1960s have not been
forgotten. Although airing quilts is a common
act in preparing for the coming winter, the quilts
themselves represent more. In her essay, ‘‘And
This Poem Recognizes that Embracing Contra-
rieties in the Poetry of Nikki Giovanni,’’ Virginia
C. Fowler writes about the importance of quilts
in Giovanni’s life and in her work. Fowler notes
that Giovanni possesses a collection of quilts
and that they are a ‘‘most appropriate meta-
phor’’ for the study of her poetry. A quilt is a
whole created from pieces. A life is also a whole
created from pieces, from events or episodes and
the movement of people in and out of one’s
experience. A quilt is pieced together from frag-
ments or leftovers from discarded clothing or
unused yardage, from the clothing worn by a
child or the curtains from a previous home. A
quilt is a chronicle of experiences. Fowler sug-
gests that quilts ‘‘incorporate the vicissitudes of a
family’s history.’’ In a quilt there are reminders
and memories preserved together. The quilt
itself, then, is a link from the past to the promise
of the future. In addition to protecting the poet
from the cold, the quilts also offer hope. The
making of a quilt from the remnants of the past
implies a transformation. Giddings states of
Giovanni that ‘‘lowered expectations, thinking
small, the litany about what we cannot expect
do not enchant her.’’ According to Giddings,
Giovanni thinks that a human being is the
‘‘only creature on Earth who can convey feelings,
who has the possibility of a collective memory. If
mankind can remember for centuries backward
we can plan for centuries forward.’’ Giovanni
believes in the power of the future and of the
necessity to plan for the future.
At its core, ‘‘Winter’’ represents the promise
of the future and the opportunities that the
future might bring, if only people look beyond
the present and believe in the possibility for
change. The poet knows that winter will eventu-
ally end and that there will be another time to
store the quilts and put away unread books.
‘‘Winter’’ is about change and it is about prepar-
ing for change. Winter is inevitable, but sooner
or later it ends, and often without warning. One
day the ice begins to melt and leaves appear on
trees. The bears awaken, as do the frogs and
snails. It is as necessary to prepare for winter’s
end as to prepare for winter’s beginning. In an
1983 interview with Claudia Tate, Giovanni is
quoted as saying that she thinks that ‘‘things can
be changed.’’ For Giovanni life is a process. The
inequities of the past are not forgotten, but
‘‘Winter’’ suggests that change in the future is
something for which both people and animals
should plan.
Source:Sheri Metzger Karmiol, Critical Essay on ‘‘Win-
ter,’’ inPoetry for Students, Gale, Cengage Learning, 2010.Nikki Giovanni and Arlene Elder
In the following interview excerpt, Nikki Giovanni
discusses her life, philosophy, and poetry with
Arlene Elder.
Throughout her career, Nikki Giovanni’s
poetry has been valued, at least in part, as a
touchstone to the latest political and artistic
ideas in Black American writing. She, however,
never considered herself a spokesperson for any
group. She says she is a ‘‘we’’ poet whose work
might reflect the thoughts of others but judges it
the height of ‘‘arrogance’’ to assume one is the
‘‘voice’’ of a people; people, she is confident, can
speak perfectly well for themselves. She feels that
her poetry is richer now because she understands
more than she did when she was younger; as if to
accommodate that fuller understanding, she is
experimenting with longer pieces, some of 1200
to 1500 lines. Her forthcoming book isThose
Who Ride The Night Winds, to be published
later this year by William Morrow.
[Elder:] I was interested in your trip to
Africa. Have you been there several times?
[Giovanni:]I’ve been there three times.... interested particularly in terms of your
poetry and if you found that it affected your poetry
in ways other than as subject matter. I am thinking
of perhaps more of an emphasis on orality than
you were conscious of previously.
No. No more than Mexico or Europe, or,
probably, the moon. No. Of course, you are
always conscious, just because of the nature of
I DON’T THINK THAT WRITERS EVER
CHANGED THE MIND OF ANYBODY. I THINK WE
ALWAYS PREACH TO THE SAVED.’’Winter