by
Naomi Shihab Nye
American Poets Continuum
Series
In the poem, "Bill's Beans," dedicated to her mentor,
William Stafford, Naomi Shihab Nye writes of finding beans, "under
the leaves, they're secretly long and curling./ I pull a perfect
question mark and two lean twins, / feeling the magnetic snap
of stem, the ripened weight." In this poetry collection,
Nye continually shows us how to look "under the leaves"
as she writes on topics ranging from the border families of southern
Texas, small ferns and forgotten books, to Jews and Palestinians
in the Middle East.
Hidden
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.
©BOA
Editions, Ltd 1998
Available editions:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Paperback
ISBN: 1-880238-63-2
Price: $17.00
Publishing Date: January 1998
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