Transfer
Poetry

Transfer

by Naomi Shihab Nye


 

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“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.” — William Stafford

Dusk

where is the name no one answered to


gone off to live by itself


beneath the pine trees separating the houses


without a friend or a bed


without a father to tell it stories


how hard was the path it walked on


all those years belonging to none


of our struggles drifting under


the calendar page elusive as


residue   when someone said


how have you been   it was


strangely that name that tried


to answer

 

Naomi Shihab Nye has spent 35 years traveling the world to lead writing workshops and inspire students of all ages. In her newest collection, Transfer, she draws on her Palestinian-American heritage, the cultural diversity of her home in Texas, and her extensive travel experiences to create a poetry collection that attests to our shared humanity.

Among her awards, Naomi Shihab Nye has been a Lannan Fellow, a Guggenheim Fellow, and a Witter Bynner Fellow. She has received a Lavan Award from the Academy of American Poets, the Isabella Gardner Poetry Award, the Paterson Poetry Prize, and four Pushcart Prizes. In January 2010, she was elected to the Board of Chancellors of the Academy of American Poets.

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About the Author

Naomi Shihab Nye

About the Author

Naomi Shihab Nye is the author and/or editor of more than thirty volumes including six collections of poetry from BOA Editions: Sidekick (2026), Red Suitcase (1994), Fuel (1998), You & Yours (2005), Transfer (2011), and The Tiny Journalist (2019). She has been a Lannan Fellow, a Guggenheim Fellow and a Witter Bynner Fellow. Her numerous awards include a Lavan Award from the Academy of American Poets, the Isabella Gardner Poetry Award from BOA, the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award, the Patterson Poetry Prize, four Pushcart Prizes, the Robert Creeley Prize the Betty Prize from Poets House for her service to poetry, and the Lon Tinkle Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Texas Institute of Letters. She served on the Board of Chancellors of the Academy of American Poets from 2010–2015, and in May 2019 she was named the 2019–2021 Young People's Poet Laureate by the Poetry Foundation.

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