So It's Been Said

In element’ry school, I learned to do away with “said”
In writing; I would choose among the stronger verbs instead.
I later learned that that was but a single school of thought.
Another would respond to this with “Absolutely not.”
The thinking is that dialog well written will suffice
To show how things are put, and “said” simplicity is nice,
So synonyms and variants are nothing but distractions
Or purple prose that ought to be omitted in redactions.
At this point, I would cultivate a style between the schools:
These verbs all have a reason to exist; they’re handy tools,
And adverbs have their place as well when verbs are not enough.
I’ll choose whatever fits, although deciding can be tough.