Poetry Friday: The Summer of Naomi Shihab Nye
In Library News
As I write this on Thursday afternoon, I have just signed off of my job for the summer. I always enjoy switching gears into MORE writing in the summer. But I do love my day job as a school librarian, and I’ll be reading all summer long, preparing for all the books I want to share with students in the fall.
I got a tremendous surprise this week—I received the Library Luminary Award given to one librarian in my county each year. It’s for leadership and innovation. They gave me this award in front of some colleagues and a group of kids, and told me about the things they see that I do. While it was a completely unexpected award, I was touched by all of the things that people mentioned that they felt made an impact. It was a lovely send off into summer.
I slightly edited this photo to protect my bosses’ signatures.
The Summer of Naomi Shihab Nye
I love doing deep dives into something special. I think it’s just the high input person that I am. You might recall my “Spring Break of Sylvia Plath” which turned into an entire “Spring of Sylvia Plath.”
This summer, I decided to do “The Summer of Naomi Shihab Nye.” Gretchen Rubin always has a focus for the summer (she calls it “Design your summer”), if you follow her work.
Several weeks ago, I attended a poetry event with our county’s poet laureate who is Palestinian American. Each presenting poet read a different poem from a Palestinian poet. It was such a lovely way to celebrate these poets’ work. I thought I’d deep dive into Palestinian American poet Naomi Shihab Nye—whose work I fell in love with as a new teacher in the late 90’s.
I pulled all of my Naomi Shihab Nye books off my shelf, printed some poems online, put holds on books from the library that I didn’t own. I created a special notebook where I’ll take notes. And I also started one of my favorite ways to take a deep dive: downloading podcast interviews. She’s done all kinds of podcast interviews, so I’m listening to those while I do errands, garden, or clean up.
If you have a favorite Naomi Shihab Nye poem or book, please let me know! I’ve been reading her for more than 20 years, but doing a revisit all at once will be a delight! And there’s so many books of hers that I haven’t read! I’m starting with Grace Notes.
Haiku of the Week
after the wind
half-naked dandelion
a wish holds on
Photo Taken: May 12, 2024 at Shenandoah National Park
Haiku Written: June 13, 2024
Poem as Picture Book
by Christie Matheson
Princeton Architectural Press, 2024
Forest is a 62-word poem as picture book that pays homage to the forest.
Poetry Connections
- rhyming couplets
- assonance
- alliteration
- circular structure
- word specificity
Links
Grow (My word of the year)
It’s hard to think about growing when all I want to do is sleep off the school year. But this is the time of year when I create goals for June, July, and August. While I don’t have three months off (only 7 weeks), I still try to create goals for projects I can work on during my summer. I’m excited about projects that I’m finishing up, and even more excited to play around with sparkling new ideas.
26 Comments
Tabatha
Congratulations on the wonderful recognition! I am not surprised at all that you are doing the kind of job that makes people want to give you awards. Naomi Shihab Nye has been a favorite of mine for a long time. Looking forward to hearing about your deep dive!
Marcie Flinchum Atkins
Thank you, Tabatha!
Denise Krebs
Marcie, first of all, congratulations on the lovely award for leadership and innovation. Hooray for you! How fun to be focusing on Naomi Shihab Nye this summer. What a great idea. I hadn’t seen so many of these books by her. Grace Notes sounds like a great one to start with. My favorite NSN poem is “Gate A-4.” I love that dandelion hanging onto a wish.
Marcie Flinchum Atkins
Oh yes, Gate A-4 is a gem. When I’ve been listening to the podcasts, she often is asked to read that one.
Kathryn Apel
Congratulations, not just on doing wonderful library things worthy of an award, but on being recognised for it. How lovely and validating to be seen (and inspiring others!) – and perfect gift going into a refreshing break. I am jealous of your dandelion pic! 🙂 It’s a beauty, holding tight to its wish.
Marcie Flinchum Atkins
Thank you so much!
Linda Baie
Congratulations for your award, Marcie. That is such a life-affirming thing to be recognized, considering all the ways you make your students and colleagues know and love your world of books! What a lovely send-off into summer! I love Nye and used some of her work with students to show them what awesome things can be said in a poem. Finally, the dandelions are leaving and you’ve crafted a beautiful way to say goodbye! Happy summer!
Marcie Flinchum Atkins
Thank you, Linda!
Rose Cappelli
Congratulations, Marcie! It’s nice that you received regonition for the inspiration that you are to so many. Spending the summer with Naomi Shihab Nye sounds wonderful.
Marcie Flinchum Atkins
Thank you, Rose!
Karen Eastlund
Congratulations on the wonderful award. What a testament to your work! I hope you will bask in that glow all summer. Enjoy the reading spree. Summer is made for reading sprees, I think. Thanks for sharing your plans and your award.
Marcie Flinchum Atkins
Yes to a summer reading spree! Just perfect!
Carol Varsalona
Marcie, how wonderful that you are thought of as a library luminary. Congratulations! You deserve the praise after all you do to immerse yourself in library visits, reading as many books as you can, and engaging children in reading and writing. A summer of Naomi Shihab Nye, an exceptional poet. I have me t her several times at various conferences. She is a careful listener and a wonderful person to speak privately with. I look forward to hearing about the books you read this summer. I do love your new haiku. Each line of your haiku has great word choice. Enjoy your weekend.
Marcie Flinchum Atkins
How lovely that you’ve met Naomi Shihab Nye! I’ve been listening to a lot of podcasts with her in them. It’s been so wonderful.
PATRICIA J FRANZ
So happy for you, Marcie! It’s gratifying when your work is noticed. And a belated congrats on your poem being chosen (you may have mentioned it last week…I was remiss in reading PF posts due to the wedding blitz). Your energy continues to amaze and inspire me. I love Naomi Shihab Nye’s poetry and will look forward to all that you will share of your summer projects!
Marcie Flinchum Atkins
Thank you so much!
Michelle Kogan
Congrats on your Luminary Award Marcie–sounds like they picked just the right person for it!!!
Your post is just abuzz with excitement for your summer months of deep diving and planning. Are you familiar with The Poetry Anthology “If Bees Are Few A Hive of Bee poems” Naomi Shihab Nye has three poems in it, I like them all and her matter of fact voice that rings through them, especially the last one, “Pollen.” Thanks for all!
Marcie Flinchum Atkins
Ohh! I do not know this anthology. I will see if I can get ahold of a copy!
Ramona
I was green with envy when I read Denise’s teaser that you were spending the summer with Naomi Shihab Nye!She is one of my favorite poets. I love her book, A Maze Me. My favorite poem from the book is “Sifter.”
I’m not sure if this link will work for you, but it’s a compilation of all the posts I’ve written that have mentioned Naomi Shihab Nye. https://pleasuresfromthepage.blogspot.com/search?q=naomi+shihab+nye
Enjoy your summer, savor the recognition, and love your time with Naomi. I can’t think of a better summer companion.
Marcie Flinchum Atkins
Thank you so much for this link! I can’t wait to read the posts you’ve written about her!!!!
Verrena Diane Anderson
Congrats on your award! I enjoyed the haiku- it’s a sweet idea, a wish holding on. I checked for the book Forest at my library- it’s on order.
Marcie Flinchum Atkins
Oh yay! After I read FOREST, I checked out several other books by Christie Matheson too.
Jane @ Raincity Librarian
Oh my goodness, congratulations on the award! And enjoy your well-deserved break, all our school workers deserve their summers off after taking care of our most precious people all year long! 🙂
Marcie Flinchum Atkins
Thank you! I’m grateful for the break!
Karen Edmisten
Congratulations on the well-deserved award!
A summer with Naomi Shihab Nye sounds marvelous. I do enjoy Gretchen Rubin’s Happier podcast but whenever I have tried to design my summer, unexpected life circumstances have toppled my plans, lol. My wish for your summer is to have nothing unexpected crop up (unless it’s something grand) and loads of time for the things you want to pursue. Enjoy those seven weeks!
Marcie Flinchum Atkins
Yes, the unexpected life stuff. That’s why I keep the goal pretty simple–books that I can carry around with me. I downloaded an ebook to read on the train this past week. My train was delayed 3.5 hours, but I had something to read. 🙂