- if i can't do
what i want to do
then my job is to not
do what i don't want
to do
it's not the same thing
but it's the best i can
do
if i can't have
what i want . . . then
my job is to want
what i've got
and be satisfied
that at least there
is something more to want
since i can't go
where i need
to go . . . then i must . . . go
where the signs point
through always understanding
parallel movement
isn't lateral
when i can't express
what i really feel
i practice feeling
what i can express
and none of it is equal
i know
but that's why mankind
alone among the animals
learns to cry
I've always been a huge NG fan. Saw her read some 35 years ago when I was in college. Have always loved this one:
ReplyDeleteThe Butterfly, Nikki Giovanni
those things
which you so laughingly call
hands are in fact two
brown butterflies fluttering
across the pleasure
they give
my body