Choices

I've always been a fan of Nikki Giovanni. She has a simple yet profound way of writing. Profound is generous, but she has this uncanny ability to capture the whole of black womanhood in her work. I find myself in her words and that is something no writer has done for me. Giovanni's work is personal and I hold some of them near and dear to me. Two of the poems that belong in my personal restrospective narrative are "Introspection" and "Choices".

CHOICES

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


-Nikki Giovanni