Poet Nikki Giovanni delighted a full house with her witty humor and inspirational poems last night.

Giovanni spoke at Thurber Theater in the Drake Union as the opening night of the 18th season of the Thurber House’s Evening With Authors series.

The program opened with Giovanni sharing her experience of being asked to speak in front of NASA. She read her poem, “We’re Going to Mars,” in which she emphasized the need to travel to the planet.

“The only reason we are not on Mars yet is because we don’t know if what we send out will come back,” Giovanni said.

She compared the life of an astronaut going to Mars to the life of slaves on a boat — in the middle of an ocean, not knowing which way was home anymore.

“I know the solution for going to Mars,” Giovanni said. “Black Americans are the solution. Black Americans were the only people in a new land without any landmarks, and they had to find their own way.”

“It takes one year to travel to Mars, one year spent there, and another to travel home/Tired muscles, unusual food, no landmarks,” her poem reads.

“At some point, the astronauts won’t know which way home is,” Giovanni said.

Another of her poems, “In the Spirit of Martin,” predicts what Martin Luther King’s life would be like if he were alive today.

“I wanted to bring him up to date and put him in his time,” Giovanni said. “I know if he were still with us, we would have him in braids.”

The mood of the program dimmed a bit while Giovanni spoke of her battle with cancer, seven years ago.

“I had a tumor,” Giovanni said. “I don’t consider myself a survivor. I just think of it as if the cancer’s not mad at me now, and we’re getting along.”

The tumor was removed, along with one of her lungs and three ribs. She spent nearly a month in a hospital before she could go home to her family.

“While I was recovering I watched a family of robins build a nest and have babies,” Giovanni said. “I wouldn’t have recovered the way I did, if that didn’t happen. It reminded me that life goes on.”

During the presentation, Giovanni proudly displayed her tatoo on her left forearm, depicting the words “Thug Life,” in memory of Tupac Shakur.

“Tupac is to black America as John F. Kennedy is to white America,” Giovanni said. “Tupac stood for something. He was a good writer and a good human being.”

Giovanni was introduced to the audience by Stephen Kuusisto, a professor in creative writing at OSU.

“Being blind, I was barred from public school,” Kuusisto said. “I was able to go to public school and get an education because of the African Civil Rights Movement. It makes it an especially great privelege to introduce a poet who has opened such great doors for people.”

Elizabeth Jewell, director of Literary Programs for Thurber House, said she admires Giovanni’s willingness to share her opinions the way she has.

“She was very moving,” said Donya Sewell, a freshman in criminology. “She is definitely one of the best poets. She’s liberal, real, artsy and just incredible.”

Nikki Giovanni has authored of twelve books of poetry, including “Cotton Candy on a Rainy Day,” and “Love Poems,” which contains a poem for Tupac Shakur entitled, “All Eyez on U.”

She was named Woman of the Year by Madamoiselle, Ladies Home Journal and Essence and is a professor of English at Virginia Tech University.