Naomi Shihab Nye (1952 - present)
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.

Half-And-Half by Naomi Shihab Nye

You can't be, says a Palestinian Christian
on the first feast day after Ramadan.
So, half-and-half and half-and-half.
He sells glass. He knows about broken bits,
chips. If you love Jesus you can't love
anyone else. Says he.

At his stall of blue pitchers on the Via Dolorosa,
he's sweeping. The rubbed stones
feel holy. Dusting of powdered sugar
across faces of date-stuffed mamool.

This morning we lit the slim white candles
which bend over at the waist by noon.
For once the priests weren't fighting
in the church for the best spots to stand.
As a boy, my father listened to them fight.
This is partly why he prays in no language
but his own. Why I press my lips
to every exception.

A woman opens a window—here and here and here—
placing a vase of blue flowers
on an orange cloth. I follow her.
She is making a soup from what she had left
in the bowl, the shriveled garlic and bent bean.
She is leaving nothing out.


Hidden by Naomi Shihab Nye

If you place a fern
under a stone
the next day it will be
nearly invisible
as if the stone has
swallowed it.

If you tuck the name of a loved one
under your tongue too long
without speaking it
it becomes blood
sigh
the little sucked-in breath of air
hiding everywhere
beneath your words.

No one sees
the fuel that feeds you.


Poem Activity #1:

After reading Half-and-Half, in a poem, discuss two aspects of yourself (or your personality, belief, culture) that seem on the surface at odds with one another. Describe this topic through a short narrative (story) poem. Embed dialogue in your poem where appropriate.

Poem Activity #2:

After reading Hidden, start a poem with the subordinating conjunction “If…” You may use an “If…then…” statement, if you’d like. Start with a stanza describing a literal or concrete event or fact from nature. Naomi Shihab Nye uses the description of a fern placed under a stone. Your second stanza should be more metaphorical, as Naomi Shihab Nye’s second stanza is as she describes the transubstantiation of a loved one’s name into blood. Finally, end your poem with a wise observation that connects both stanzas.