Quilting the Black-Eyed Pea: Poems and Not Quite Poems (Harper Perennial)

"One of her best collections to date." --Essence

Quilting the Black-Eyed Pea is a tour de force from Nikki Giovanni, one of the most powerful voices in American poetry and African American literature today. From Black Feeling, Black Talk and Black Judgment in the 1960s to Bicycles in 2010, Giovanni's poetry has influenced literary figures from James Baldwin to Blackalicious, and touched millions of readers worldwide. In Quilting the Black-Eyed Pea, Giovanni turns her gaze toward the state of the world around her, and offers a daring, resonant look inside her own self as well.

"If there was a need for poetry that galvanized and inspired, there was also a demand for poetry that comforted and unified -- and Ms. Giovanni provided on both counts." -- The Washington Post