She's not saying that they're equivalent tragedies, she's saying that there's no reason behind the tragedy at Virginia Tech anymore than there's reason behind tragedies that happen anywhere in the world. Deserve has nothing to do with it, so be sad but don't be afraid.
Not her best by any stretch of the imagination, but I give Prof. Giovanni slack because she is writing one day after the incident.
Speaking of which, Nikki Giovanni is quite a talented poet and worth looking at for any FReeper poetry fans.
Profound. Let me think about it for a minute. Ok, I’m done.
Nonsense. The various "tragedies" that she mentions here seem to be mostly cases where greedy capitalist interests undermined human (or animal) welfare. Giovanni specializes in grievances over those things. I have no idea how they are supposed to compare with what happened at VT, unless (as I suspect) her point is that more gun control would have saved the day.
"The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ, Moves on: nor all your Piety nor Wit Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line, Nor all your Tears wash out a Word of it.
For let Philosopher and Doctor preach Of what they will, and what they will not - each Is but one Link in an eternal Chain That none can slip, nor break, nor over - reach.
And that inverted Bowl we call The Sky, Whereunder crawling coop'd we live and die, Lift not your hands to It for help - for It As impotently rolls as you or I.
With Earth's first Clay They did the Last Man knead, And there of the Last Harvest sow'd the Seed: And the first Morning of Creation wrote What the Last Dawn of Reckoning shall read.
Yesterday This Day's Madness did prepare; Tomorrow's Silence, Triumph, or Despair: Drink! for you know not whence you came, nor why: Drink! for you know not why you go, nor where.
I generally like Giovanni’s writing, but I think it was a mistake to put elephants in that list. Every other item in the list is a human being, like the victims at VT. Parents and classmates do not want to hear loved ones compared to circus animals.
And I would argue that the killing to close extinction of elephants for ivory, while arguably not necessary and a waste, is not senseless—it is killing an animal for profit just like any other animal used by human beings for food or material. The killing at VT, that was senseless.
It’s a small thing, and the rest is an acceptable expression of grief and confusion. Maybe Giovanni was steeped in elephant and ivory research and that is what was on her mind, but it sticks out like a sore thumb in a list of human victims.
I can not help but supress the urge to say something like YOU ARE AN IDIOT. The poet lauertrix of the “Natit” is just plain Dumb. If this person is anyones idea of a poet or for that matter one even capable of rational thought, I laugh , I slap my thigh, I split my gut!
Give me a friggen break. If she was a white woman, she would have been booed off the stage.
The only thing she has going for her is that she is a blond nappy headed ho.
I have read some of her poetry. It is crap.
For her to be on the VT faculty is a disgrace.