Seems like making choices and accepting the consequences is an almost trite topic to address with students. Meaning, you hear about choices from your teachers/parents/youth pastors etc. over and over again. But, after reading Nikki Giovanni's poem and its surprising twist at the end, I wanted to see what everyone could do or would do in response to this poem.
This will be a challenge; however, my advice is to read the poem to yourself several times (out loud works best) and let it settle into your system. Work with the line breaks, punctuation and phrasing. Then, find a stanza or line(s) that speaks to you or you feel you can connect with. Don't feel as if your only option is to address the poem as a whole. I am perfectly content with a deep connection to an image or a word choice, a twist of irony, a view of theme, etc. Remember, I am looking for your personal reaction and connections to the poem or the message(s) of the poem. I am NOT looking for a play-by-play or line-by-line explanation of the poem. Good luck!
http://www.afropoets.net/nikkigiovanni1.html
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The poem "Choices", seems very emotional to me. My point of view about this poem is that it is trying to get the point across that we do not always get what we want or do what we want and it feels as if our paths our being planned out by people, regarding the signs, even though it is not always what we think is best for us and we wish that we could have more ablity to make more of our own choices.
ReplyDeleteThis poem says to me that everyone has a goal that they have set before themselves, but we do not always get what we want when we want it. To me the in the third stanza, Nikki Giovanni is saying that we must be content with where we are at in our life and with what we have. In the Bible, the book of Hebrews tells us to be content with what we have. Being content does not mean we have to give up on our goals, it means we must be happy with where we are at for the present time, but we can and should move forward if our choices take us there. Sometimes our choices are not always right and there are joys as well as tears along our journey.
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ReplyDeleteThe poem choices made me feel appreciative to what i have and to always stay grounded no matter how
ReplyDeletetough the road ahead is for me ill remain fragile.It's a really immportant lesson for a person to learn and i loved how the author said "satisfied" because it really is a good decision.Stay thankful.
What I get out of this poem is that just because you don't get what you want when you want it, doesn't mean your life is gonna fall apart. I think Nikki is trying to say that there is always another door to open when one closes. If your not happy with the way something is don't sit and sulk about it all the time find a way to make the situation better. I think of it as if when something goes wrong don't flip out about it just accept it and handle it in your own way in your own time.
ReplyDeleteThis poem made me really think about that there are things in life that we take for granted. Sometimes people flip out over the smallest mistakes. This poem to me is also saying basically what Nicole said when one door closes there is another one open. I think some people get to worked up over nothing and they sit and act all sad because things didn't go there way. When one door closes another always opens.
ReplyDeleteWhen I read this poem for the third time I think it makes references to how people are never satisfied with what they have or where they have gone in life. Everyone always wants what they do not have and to go where they have never gone before. People get emotional when they cannot have these things that they so much desire. So they cry a little and feel sorry for themselves.
ReplyDeletemy point of veiw for this poem, is that when you dont get what you want, or do what you want, dont feel so bad about it. I mean think about what kids who cant get anything they want, because they dont have a house or dont have a family. Take what you can get and be thankful you have it. Because one day alll that stuff could just disappear. Now days all kids want video games, cell phones, cars, clothes, etc. And the kids who dont have what they want, just want food in front of their face, and they are very thankful for that.But the other kids just want a new phone or a new game. So just be thankful for what you have, or watch it just dissappear.
ReplyDeleteI think this poem is about being thankful for what you have, and not be upset about what you don't have. I'm always thankful, when I'm having my doubts I think of how there's always someone who has gone through worse.
ReplyDeleteWhile reading the poem "Choices," I was so confused. I probablly stuttered atleast twenty times I could not comprehend anything I was reading but as I thought it through again I started to understand a little more. I understood the third stanza more than the other stanzas from the way I understood it most people will never get everything they want so you need to live and be happy with what you have.The poem slightly relates to the Curator from the last blog. The men from the Curator took what they had forgranted until it was gone and then they missed it, and in the thrid stanza of Choices I think it is telling us to not to take what we have forgranted be happy with every little thing we have.
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ReplyDeleteIn the poem "Choices," the first and the fifth stanza really stand out to me. The example for the first stanza that came to my mind is if you want to be a professional athlete, but you do not think you will be able to achieve it then your job is not to do drugs. Being a professional athlete and doing drugs is what you do not want to do so it is your job not to do it. An example for the fifth stanza that I thought of is if you are very devastated about something, and you begin to cry. You do not think this is enough emotion, but you do not know what else you can do. You will have to settle with crying even though it is not the same feeling as you wanted to show. That is a couple of the reactions I had to this poem.
ReplyDeleteIt seems that the third stanza suck out to alot of people like it did to me. Wanting what you've got and not wanting more and more. You may not not have yhe latest game or the latest phone but some one has it worse than you.
ReplyDeleteMy first reaction to this poem was, "Wow." It's as if the speaker has so many dreams but can't achieve them so he has to settle for what he knows he can achieve. And it's weird how it seems as if the speaker has no problem with settling for less than he really wants. I'm the type of person that gets really upset when I can't do what I set out to do so this is fairly hard for me to grasp.
ReplyDeleteWhen i read this poam it made me think that you dont always get what you want. In life you have to make the best of it and live everyday like it was your last.
ReplyDeleteAs I read this poem I realized that we aren't always going to get what we want or do things that we want to do but that doesn't mean that we can't enjoy it. We all need to make the best out of what we have. I agree with what Abbi said about living everyday as if it were your last. I feel the same way, we just need to make the best out of what we can and live life.
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