Nikki Giovanni
Ego Tripping
I was born in the congo
I walked to the fertile crescent and built the sphinx
I designed a pyramid so tough that a star that only glows every one hundred
years falls into the center giving divine perfect light I am bad
I sat on the throne
drinking nectar with allah I got hot and sent an ice age to europe to cool
my thirst
My oldest daughter is nefertiti the tears from my birth pains created the nile
I am a beautiful woman
I gazed on the forest and burned out the sahara desert with a packet of goat’s
meat and a change of clothes I crossed it in two hours I am a gazelle so swift
so swift you can’t catch me
For a birthday present when he was three I gave my son hannibal an
elephant He gave me rome for mother’s day My strength flows ever on
My son noah built new/ark and I stood proudly at the helm as we sailed on a soft
summer day
I turned myself into myself and was jesus
men intone my loving name All praises All praises I am the one who
would save
I sowed diamonds in my back yard My bowels deliver uranium the filings from
my fingernails are semi-precious jewels On a trip north
I caught a cold and blew
My nose giving oil to the arab world I am so hip even my errors are correct I
sailed west to reach east and had to round off the earth as I went The hair from
my head thinned and gold was laid across three continents
I am so perfect so divine so ethereal so surreal I cannot be comprehended
except by my permission
I mean…I…can fly
like a bird in the sky…