The Laws of Motion - Nikki Giovanni (U.S.)

抄寫及攝影：何國璋

The Laws of Motion by Nikki Giovanni (U.S.)

(for Harlem Magic)

 

The laws of science teach us a pound of gold weighs as   

much as a pound of flour though if dropped from any  

undetermined height in their natural state one would

reach bottom and one would fly away

 

Laws of motion tell us an inert object is more difficult to   

propel than an object heading in the wrong direction is to   

turn around. Motion being energy—inertia—apathy.  

Apathy equals hostility. Hostility—violence. Violence  

being energy is its own virtue. Laws of motion teach us

 

Black people are no less confused because of our  

Blackness than we are diffused because of our

powerlessness. Man we are told is the only animal who   

smiles with his lips. The eyes however are the mirror of

the soul

 

The problem with love is not what we feel but what we   

wish we felt when we began to feel we should feel

something. Just as publicity is not production: seduction

is not seductive

 

If I could make a wish I’d wish for all the knowledge of all   

the world. Black may be beautiful Professor Micheau

says but knowledge is power. Any desirable object is

bought and sold—any neglected object declines in value.   

It is against man’s nature to be in either category

 

If white defines Black and good defines evil then men

define women or women scientifically speaking describe

men. If sweet is the opposite of sour and heat the

absence of cold then love is the contradiction of pain and

beauty is in the eye of the beheld

 

Sometimes I want to touch you and be touched in   

return. But you think I’m grabbing and I think you’re  

shirking and Mama always said to look out for men like  

you

 

So I go to the streets with my lips painted red and my   

eyes carefully shielded to seduce the world my reluctant   

lover

 

And you go to your men slapping fives feeling good  

posing as a man because you know as long as you sit  

very very still the laws of motion will be in effect

 

        ——“The Women and the Men” (1970)