Today I introduce you to another of my favorite poets, Ms. Naomi Shihab Nye, and I share one of her poems, "Some Days". I have all of her books and her poetry is amazing, just like her! Here is a short bio about her:"Naomi Shihab Nye is a poet and songwriter born in 1952 to a Palestinian father and American mother. She grew up in St. Louis, Missouri, Jerusalem, and San Antonio, Texas. Both roots and sense of place are major themes in her body of work. Her first collection of poems, Different Ways to Pray, explored the theme of similarities and differences between cultures, which would become one of her lifelong areas of focus.
Her other books include poetry collections 19 Varieties of Gazelle: Poems of the Middle East, Red Suitcase, and Fuel; a collection of essays entitled Never in a Hurry; a young-adult novel called Habibi (the autobiographical story of an Arab-American teenager who moves to Jerusalem in the 1970s) and picture book Lullaby Raft, which is also the title of one of her two albums of music. (The other is called Rutabaga-Roo; both were limited-edition.)
Nye has edited many anthologies of poems, for audiences both young and old. One of the best-known is This Same Sky: A Collection of Poems from around the World, which contains translated work by 129 poets from 68 different countries. Her most recent anthology is called Is This Forever, Or What?: Poems & Paintings from Texas."
SOME DAYS
By Naomi Shihab Nye
Your handwriting stands
like a small forest on the page
You could enter it anywhere
Your rooms look new to you
maybe you moved a lamp
stretched a swatch of white gauze
across a window
Single stick of incense
waiting
Remember when you wrote:
I devote myself to short sentences
Air answers
Breath remembers
A streak of light
signs the floor
You missed it
Do you know its name yet?
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
I thought I was alone as I walked around the yard today until I looked down and saw the tiny footprints of what looks like a Raccoon next to mine. A ghost friend!!
As I walked barefoot in the wet grass and squishy mud this morning, I heard the flowers, fruit and foliage laughing loudly, happily discussing last night's refreshing storm. The blueberries above seemed to laugh the loudest!
This is the front of a hardback journal I collaged late last night as I sat listening to a storm raging outside my little office. I never put my pictures together ahead of time. I just let them choose where they want to go and somehow, they always seem to blend.
A haiku I just composed for my beautiful, shy rose:
My shy yellow rose
Waited for a stormy night
To open her heart
Waited for a stormy night
To open her heart
Sometimes the entire world is wrong, like about thinking OUTSIDE the box. At times, it feels much safer to think the other way, as I've stated on this decoupaged, painted tin I made.
Wishing you a nice, rainy Spring Saturday to read, relax and create.
Don't worry, be happy. :-O
Blessings,
~*~Marion ~*~
PS: I just found this little poem typed on an old note card, tucked away in a book of poetry I was perusing. It wanted to be here today so I add it to this post:
A MIND POET
A mind poet
stays in the house.
stays in the house.
The house is empty
and it has no walls.
The Poem
is seen from all sides,
everywhere
at once.
at once.
Gary Snyder
