Naomi Ayala’s poems explore wide-ranging themes in an ever-changing landscape—from the city streets to the introspective solace of the woods. These lyrics deconstruct the political world of man, offer hope through a compelling, lyrical, spiritual intimacy, and bridge the gap between the two with words full of ecological intensity.
Her deep connections with the working class combine with a love of the land to offer us lilt and dream, revelation and foretelling.
“HOLE”
One morning
they dig up the sidewalk and leave.
No sign of the truck—only the large,
dark shadow digging and digging,
piling up sludge with a hand shovel
beside the only tree.
Two o’clock I come by
and he’s slumbering in the grass beside rat holes.
Three and he’s stretched across a jagged stonewall,
folded hands tucked beneath one ear—
a beautiful young boy smiling,
not the heavy, large shadow who can’t breathe.
Four-thirty and the August heat
takes one down here.
He’s pulled up an elbow joint
some three feet round.
At seven I head home for the night,
pass the fresh gravel mound,
a soft footprint near the manhole
like the “x” abuelo would place beside his name
all the years he couldn’t write.
Recipient of numerous awards and fellowships, Naomi Ayala is the author of three books of poetry. She works as an education consultant (with a specialty in curriculum design and development), and as a translator and teacher.
"Naomi Ayala's strong, supple poems pull a reader right inside. Haunting secrets scuttle along beneath the rafters of every day--she hears them in the mystery of animals and culture and time, connection and disconnection, and sings their resonant song."—Naomi Shihab Nye
"In This Side of Early, Naomi Ayala exhibits astonishing range, proving that great poetry is worth waiting for. Like Whitman, Ayala contains multitudes; she is a poet with an ethereal vision of another world, and a woman with a sweet hope for this one: 'Drink from this tree/and ye shall be saved.'"—Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, author of Red Clay Suite
"I love what Naomi Ayala does with the syllable. The pinnacle of this collection, in my view, is reached in 'You in the Me of I' where the key is to '[k]now singing before words.' That is: what's achieved in this poem is música de palabras."—Francisco Aragón, Letras Latinas, Institute for Latino Studies University of Notre Dame
"Many of the words [in This Side of Early] are Spanish, and some are Asian associated with spirituality. Such words are not meant to challenge or mystify, as some poets do to give depth to a poem. Ayala does not mean to take the risk of losing the reader. With her, the foreign words are used to give extent to the poems so they democratically, multiculturally embrace a wide diversity of people and circumstances."—Midwest Book Review
"[Naomi's] keen eye for the ignored aspects of the world around us marks This Side of Early with a sense of justice marked with a love for language and image...The journey through This Side of Early ends with joy, but the stops along the path remind us that joy is not the only experience worth examination."—Blog This Rock
"A woman simply pondering the nature of the world has never been so entertaining...[This Side of Early] is a fine and fascinating book of verse. Recommended"—Wisconsin Bookwatch
