Shout out for Nikki Giovanni

Nikki Giovanni after Virginia Tech Massacre


"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

though 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 been rediscovering poetry as of late. Thanks to Bill Moyer's Journal, I have discovered Nikki Giovanni. A former 1960's Civil Rights activists and now Distinguished Professor of English at Virginia Tech.

I am excited to continue reading her poetry.

Who do you admire? What do you like to read?