Tea With Naomi Shihab Rye

Naomi Shihab Nye is a Palestinian American poet. Her poetry shimmers with the anguish of a whole battered nation. But it is also full of gratitude, as she notices the smallest of things and urges the reader to find grace in them.   For the last two months, every morning I read a poem by her. A single poem. It will probably take me years to finish all her books. But I don't care. Because this daily ritual cleanses me, readies me to face the world, with equanimity and thankfulness.   I feel, now she belongs to me.   She says - "Let me peer out at the world through your lens. (Maybe I'll shudder, or gasp, or tilt my head in a question.) Let me see how your blue is my turquoise and my orange is your gold. Suddenly binary stars, we have startling gravity. Let's compare scintillation - let's share starlight."   She's a bridge, Naomi is. Her words are flowers and never rocks. And her world always urges us to be kind.   Because with kindness, comes understanding, comes the stardust to change us, however small the corner of the world we might be staying in.   "Only kindness, that raises its head from the crowd of the world to say it is I you have been looking for - and then goes with you everywhere like a shadow or a friend."   If you liked this poem, consider listening to these other poems celebrating grace: <ul><li><a href='https://open.spotify.com/episode/35YHTJlw6zd5TqNhJ9iSZp?si=-adPl_mfR3O_DRCPywE-Vg&utm_source=whatsapp&dl_branch=1'>Extraordinary Life</a></li> <li><a href='https://open.spotify.com/episode/1fZim8fNutiZCEQweSFV93?si=ESsYcuboQDO6JPvpkqcz7w&utm_source=whatsapp&dl_branch=1'>Kintsugi</a></li> <li><a href='https://open.spotify.com/episode/1TkfbfD4f0Kp6BFg7jv9F1?si=4mQ6G6vNRxGjVpFwbWfQBA&utm_source=whatsapp&dl_branch=1'>Tenderness</a></li> <li><a href='https://open.spotify.com/episode/4KiYz5LfsojxfnH6YNuuoo?si=V5OXPaooR_u86xqRKeUQ8g&utm_source=whatsapp&dl_branch=1'>Of the Moon (and Other Things Which Don't Know They are Beautiful)</a></li> </ul> Find other magical things, like a lovely free chapbook o