Naomi Shihab Nye reads "Separation Wall"

Naomi Shihab Nye reads her poem, "Separation Wall".
Naomi Shihab Nye:
/ ypplaureate
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[@colinsweeney4525]

What a wonderful poem for a Friday such as this.

[@yuvalne]

"she thinks as long as it takes a sun to set". What a beautiful line.

[@margogarrison2526]

You know you have cracked the poetry code when you can penetrate deep philosophies with the simplest, universal imagery and words. You can love complexity and have a love affair with academia and high brow pursuits and craft something mind bending, but it is so much more impressive to me when a poem is accessible and relatable to everyone.

[@priscillakhapai3623]

Yeah, I agree. This is a lovely perspective. Thanks for sharing.

[@margogarrison2526]

@@priscillakhapai3623 🙏😊

[@mohaamer6866]

That line about the nuclear bomb hit me so hard. When you live everyday with the Israeli media portraying the person with the knife as the most heinous terrorist to ever roam the land, only to see their soldiers in the supermarkets holding m16 and random people walking around with guns. Makes me wonder how the hell they can claim to be so afraid all the time.

[@lilywang9724]

"We would like the babies not to find out about// the failures waiting for them."

[@whatsbehindthesky]

I love the room she’s in!

[@KhushiSingh-ix6fs]

RIGHT?! I noticed it right away too! So cosy, lived-in, lined with books and adorned with trinkets that I'm sure she holds dear.

[@Judymontel]

oooooh!! I like this SO much! Thank you!

[@denissetiawan3645]

so elegant, simple, and beautiful. kudos!

[@taaptee]

naomi shihab nye, a joy as usual! loved her collection 'fuel'

[@michaelcreer6488]

Fantastic dilemmas ... what a lovely poem :) and the ending reminds me a bit of charles simic.

[@shinythegardener1731]

(may all the worlds' suffering people be free, may the nuclear bombs go silent, may the cucumbers thrive & feel always always like normal cucumbers)

[@senseweaver01]

I... I don't get it.. can someone run me through this, I am totally new to poetry haha

[@JeweledRoseStudios]

One of the really great things about poetry is that you can read a lot of ways into it. This, for me, reminds me of things like religious persecution of LGBTQ people, of the fears of the Cold War, or possibly the early 2000s, or even especially now. She asked if her grandmother ever felt normal, and I think about how abnormal things have been lately, but then again there have been lots of times in history where things have taken a very different turn than they were before and we have survived as a species through that. And then she speaks of the wall, and I think almost of death. Because we don’t know about what happens after we die, we comfort ourselves so that we can continue to live. But then, someone could read completely different things into this. Life experiences can be brought out from poems like this that are very different from each other. I would honestly like to see how others respond too!

[@eliseaescudero7128]

I loved your comment, it's great to read in community. You can read so much in this poem, but the first thing that came to my mind was the relationship between USA and other countries and the barriers that are created to separate different nations. I think it's about how we see eachother from country to country, from culture to culture (sorry if I misspelled something, spanish is my first language)

[@jirka8065]

I sometimes struggle to explain poetry even if I feel like I understand the poem. So it's really interesting to hear from other people and their ideas. This poem also reminded me of the differences between nations and groups of people in general. That we often define 'us' by something we do/see/feel/believe differently than 'they' do. And therefore 'they' are not normal. But they are. We just don't see them that way, as the grandmother said.

[@amirasayyad146]

I think it may be about the apartheid wall in Palestine (she's wearing a kuffeyeh and is half Palestinian)

[@senseweaver01]

Thanks guys, I appreciate it. So many subcultures can be really dismissive and rude to people who are new to it, but you've been really helpful instead. It's nice, and... other words for 'nice' - thank you

[@AspienPadda]

HIII HALP PLEASE PLEASE!!? I once heard a poem here about prison or jail and said I wanted to send it to someone I knew who is in for the lifetime. Please can you remember which?