Another long day, and aside from the joy of coming home to my husband (to-be), and the purring ministrations of our cat Milton, a late dinner and a glass of a lovely Argentinian blend (Cab-Malbec-Syrah), it is again poetry that soothes my soul, and calms me down.

Like last night’s, this post, and possibly tomorrow’s will be on the short side, but I’ve been reading more and more by today’s poet lately, and I will likely read something more by her before Poetry Month is over.

She and I share a common hero in William Stafford, and of her Stafford has said,

In the current literary scene, one of the most heartening influences is the work of Naomi Shihab Nye. Her poems combine transcendent liveliness and sparkle along with warmth and human insight. She is a champion of the literature of encouragement and heart. Reading her work enhances life.

Nye has written, and or edited numerous volumes of poetry, and has even written songs and books for children and young adults.  She was elected Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets in 2010. Most recently she was the winner of the Robert Creeley Award. Since I must keep commentary short tonight, I will direct you to a lovely in-depth write up on her at the Poetry Foundation.

Here is my reading for Day 13 of National Poetry Month, “The Shape of Mouths at Parites,” by Naomi Shahib Nye.

The Shapes of Mouths at Parties

A mouth like a hammer
pounding out its own tale.
Sometimes I float among the mouths
carrying my own like an unpicked plum.
The man who tells about crashing in an airplane
does not need my “Oh really?” for his story to go on.
As if we were standing at some coast,
things continue without our help,
the predictable waves, the smooth-backed shells,
and the mouths like jellyfish swelling…
As if the mouth were the opening
most suited to knowledge and communication,
more than the weightless eye,
landing carefully on each occupied chair,
the fluent nose, vibrantly awake
before the mouth names what it is eating,
or the hand, the articulate hand,
which comes undressed to every party,
opens easily to receive wine or cake,
and secretly converses with the rug, the dog, the air.

Related articles

• David Reads “Oh No,” by Robert Creeley (dadpoet.wordpress.com)
• April is National Poetry Month – Dear Poet Project (lifeisanexquisitejourney.com)
• The Art Of Disappearing (superaalifragilistic.wordpress.com)
• Kindness (ipoetryme.wordpress.com)
• “WHEN DID YOU STOP BEING A POET?” Naomi Shihab Nye ~ the charm of and lesson in “One Boy Said” (musingbymoonlight.com)
• A few resources for National Poetry Month (rethinkingschoolsblog.wordpress.com)
• Caroline Kennedy has become ambassador to world of poetry (stltoday.com)