Poems that find meaning in a world where we are "so tired of meaning nothing."
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
"What will be forgotten/ falls over me/ like the sky/ over our whole neighborhood," writes Nye in her sixth full-length collection, lamenting the memories that will disappear with departing Texas neighbors. Nye, who is also a noted YA novelist and anthologist of poems for children (The Space Between Our Footsteps: Poems and Paintings from the Middle East, Forecasts, Mar. 2), spent part of her adolescence with family in Palestinian Jerusalem, and in another poem likens memories to the "broken bits,/ chips" swept away by the glass seller on the Via Dolorosa. But even as her speaker evokes a world that's fading from recollection and struggles to abide a life where "our tea has trouble being sweet," she finds wry consolation in "Pancakes with Santa" ("What else can we say to Santa?/ Santa says ain't"), and can take pleasure in watching a man letter a sign in Arabic and English. Such small-scale multi-ethnic negotiations run through the collectionAfrom the Japanese city of Yokohama to Hebron and back to the poet's San Antonio homeAand offer microcosmic takes on larger conflicts: "No one hears the soldiers come at night/ to pluck the olive tree from its cool sleep./ Ripping up its roots. This is not a headline/ in your country or mine." Nye's witnessings of everday life and strife never quite acquire collective force, yet they convey a delicate sense of moral concern and a necessary sense of urgency.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Kirkus Reviews
The author of a YA novel (Habibi) and editor of a few anthologies of poems for children, Nye (The Red Suitcase) not surprisingly values the innocence of the young; her poems exult in simple things and possibilities, for NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE,she shouts. But her hope sometimes borders on naive, especially when she proclaims, the word together wants to live in every house. Nyes ravenous joy often involves her son, who says all kinds of cute stuff, and whose everyday profundities she records seriatim (One Boy Told Me); and with whom she chats at the ballet; and who also teaches her the mysteries of roller-skating, and, of course, love (So There). Nye also delights in used clothing, the pencil, carnivals, rising early, and her husbands New England ancestors. She herself never fails to remind us indifferent Westerners of her fathers Palestinian roots, and the sadness she finds in the old country, where theyve given up parties for war, and ancient olive trees are uprooted. There are some other sorrows in these simple poems, but theyre mostly remotethe victims of war, those suffering from a drought, and a lonely widower. Nyes gentle parables find expression in occasional prose: a girl cries on the beach in Honolulu; the poet receives phone calls meant for a rowdy bar; andalasall her mail (in Sad Mail) seems to be from people wanting things from her, the powerful poet. At her best, Nye trills childlike songs of joy, but her efforts to balance all the enthusiasm strain for seriousness. -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
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More About the Author
Naomi Shihab Nye, poet, essayist, anthologist, has been a recipient of writing fellowships from the Lannan Foundation, the Guggenheim Foundation and the Witter Bynner Foundation/Library of Congress. Author of more than twenty volumes, her recent books inc
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20 of 21 people found the following review helpful
By Carlin
Format:Paperback
It is quite difficult to get through the work of many contemporary poets. So many write of themselves only, and have a tendency to go on and on...writing from the heart is one thing, but to rant incessantly is quite another. As a children's poet, I teach the importance of observing, valuing, cherishing the world around, to see it with "new eyes", and to feel free to share what you discover. It was always apparent to me that the poet's job is to "make new" what is usually thought of as ordinary, to help us to reconnect with the world and each other. This may sound idealistic, but these are the poets/the poetry I find to be most effective (effective in stirring emotion). And Ms. Nye's poetry is so effective...she finds the sublime, the painful, the curious in everything and everyone around her. THAT is poetry! I am so happy that she is around to remind us of it!! We need more poets/teachers like her...
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
Naomi Shihab Nye is still able to find greatness in the small things. Her new book of poems, "Fuel,"reminds the reader that there poetry is all around us, on our street, in our children and even in a garden of beans. Nye's poetry is a work of surprising images and deceptive simplicity. In "Alphabet" we watch as older residents of her neighborhood who are "going up/into the air." Her writing is poignant and clears the air of stuffy, undecipherable, ego poetry. It is obvious with poems like "Messenger" and "Hidden" is that Nye's goal is to write accessible and enjoyable poetry for her readers. Nye mixes humor with clarity and subtle observations to create a grounded book of poems about life and living. "Fuel" shows us that Nye still has many stories left to tell and she has done so exquisitely in this collection.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Naomi Shihab Nye's poetry is truly great. I had the pleasure of doing a workshop with her at the Kentucky Women's Writers Conference last year, and I can tell you she really inspired the poet in me too. This is fine collection.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a lovely poet. And these are moving poems. Unpretentious and direct.
2 of 44 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
I remember a time when poems were supposed to be intelligent and well-written and creative. What has happened, that this lazy, self-indulgent, unimaginative writer has received even the lukewarm acclaim that she has?
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