19 Varieties of Gazelle by Naomi Shihab Nye

I’m not usually a big poetry person.  Maybe it’s because I still think of the awkward poems we are forced to write as children when we do not yet know the words for what we feel.  Maybe it’s just that there is too much poetry out there that isn’t really that good.  My personal opinion is that this is really good.  I’ll admit when picking a book of “poems of the Middle East” published post 9-11 I was a bit wary that it would be too defensive.  I think the Middle East as portrayed by Nye is exactly what more Americans need to see.  Her poems paint a picture of a beautiful and beloved culture.  She shows you not a point on a map, but the people who really live there.  I think her portrayals of her family are particularly touching.  Now I have to pick a favorite poem… hmm…