When I Die

When I Die
CC: http://sbacari.tripod.com/poetry/whenidie.htm  
Giovanni creates the tone and mood of death and darkness to highlight the duality of her death being in the light and happy. Giovanni creates this duality to recognizes to the reader that death isn't a horrible moment in life and should be used as a testimony in the end. To the reader, Giovanni is the speaker because she includes her son and what she would do after she died, like a "bucket list". The important thing is that, Giovanni leaves the reader with multiple lessons to learn and what she hopes for when she dies. Giovanni says, "when i die, i hope no one who ever hurt me cries and if they cry i hope their eyes fall out and a million maggots that had made up their brains crawl from the empty holes and devour the flesh that covered the evil that passed itself off as a person that i probably tried to love". this means that when she dies, she hopes the people who love her cry and the people didn't love her, don't. She hopes they cry so much that everything falls a part. Giovanni opens the poem with this stanza to highlight the affect of imagery creates to highlight hatred. Giovanni also hopes her black women will be rewarded and supported for the work they have done. Giovanni also hopes, when she dies, that only some black women read "nikki-rosa". Since the poem was about her childhood and enjoying the wonders of life, even though she didn't have a lot of resources. Giovanni probably wants the women to read this to understand that life is a struggle and maybe a drag, but one should try to be happy. While the people were busy hating her, she was busy being happy and living her life. This highlights a liberating moment for Giovanni because once one lets go the people that hate others, include them, one can live their own life and be free. Giovanni opens the fourth stanza with, "and as soon as i dies i hope everyone who loved me learns the meaning of my death which is a simple lesson don't do what you do very well very well and enjoy is, it scares white folk and makes black ones truly mad." Giovanni says this to declare that when one does something and enjoys it and does very well, it scares the oppressor and creates hate from black people. Giovanni ends the poem with, "and if ever i touched a life i hope that life knows that i know that touching was an still is and will always be the true revolution." Giovanni express that if she has ever inspired someone, she knows that she has done her job and fulfilled her purpose in life, which is speaking the truth. The last word she ends with is "revolution". Revolution is a fighting word and means war between two or more civilizations. She ends with revolution to say that life is always a revolution.