Monday, June 4, 2012

"Choices" by Nikki Giovanni


    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

1 comment:

  1. 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:

    The 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

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