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 I really dislike my child's school district -- simple communication becomes baroque, certain employees fail to even pretend to listen, and there is an overall impression of "trying to chat with a black hole." When I fight with the school district, I remember the phrase "pearls before swine." To show real emotion is to give these fellow citizens something that they do not deserve. What they deserve is strictly superficial conduct.


Nikki Giovanni writes:

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 reform a broken system, I can at least promise to myself that I won't betray a sense of neediness. I will save my energy and act like a robot when that is what is called for.

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

In other words, it's nice to have aspirations. The sense of frustration can be overwhelming -- but if every wish were immediately within reach, then life would be tedious. You can sense NikkI Giovanni arguing with herself. The struggle is written into her "line breaks." She seems close to running out of energy -- five or six times within a single sentence.

I think this ('Choices") is a witty and candid poem.
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