Naomi Shihab Nye
By Lee Bennett Hopkins

A born poet – the author and/or editor of more than 20 books, Naomi published her first poem at age seven.

It is no wonder Naomi Shihab Nye describes herself as "a wandering poet." She has spent over three decades traveling from coast to coast and throughout many parts of the world imparting her sage philosophy about the creation of poetry to teachers and students all off ages. She knows first-hand the power poetry conveys.

"Be filled with seeing"
Born on March 12, 1952, in St. Louis, MO, to a German American mother and Palestinian father, Naomi's first poem appeared in Wee Wisdom magazine when she was seven years old.

"Poetry is the melodious, international language that carries our minds and hearts into deeper places than the shallow waters we splash around in all day long," she told me. "A poem invites response and interpretation and usually acts friendly, as if it were putting out a hand."

"For me, poetry has always been a place of great and necessary refreshment. It is the true rest stop in life. 'Pause here,' it says. 'Be filled with seeing. Say something simple and true.'"

Journeys through poetry
Naomi has produced a wide body of work that includes original poetry for children and adults, essays, anthologies, picture books and novels. Come with Me: Poems for a Journey (Greenwillow, 2000) contains 16 free-verse poems for younger readers reflecting a wide array of topics. The city is the subject of "Where Are We?" where "We'll make notes on what we see./Serving the hot dog with dignity." In "Full Day," an airplane pilot says, "In one minute and fifty seconds/we're going as far/as the covered wagon went/in a full day."

In 2002, Naomi's What Have You Lost? (Greenwillow,1999) received the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award. This rich anthology, geared to mature readers, features 140 poems explaining all kinds of losses – loss of time, loss of loved ones, loss of new crayons, a wallet, a glove, loss of what used to be.

Also for older readers, l9 Varieties of Gazelle: Poems of the Middle East (Greenwillow, 2002), a finalist for the National Book Award, features 60 poems reflecting war, peace and about her Arab American background.

One of Naomi's many anthologies, Is This Forever or What?: Poems and Paintings from Texas (Greenwillow, 2004), contains work by 140 Texan poets and artists – her love song to our Lone Star state.

Naomi lives in San Antonio, TX, with her husband Michael, a photographer. She has a grown son, Madison.

Lee Bennett Hopkins is a distinguished poet and anthologist. A recent collection is Behind the Museum Door: Poems to Celebrate the Wonders of Museums (Abrams, 2007).

March, 2007, Vol.37, No.6