Poem from Nikki Giovanni

[liveonearth]

Yolande Cornelia “Nikki” Giovanni is an African-American poet, activist, author, English professor and lung cancer survivor whose early poetic inspirations stemmed from and were largely about the Civil Rights and Black Power movements. The piece below is said to be from 1982.

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