Sometimes there’s no one to listen to what you really might like to say at a certain moment. The paper always listens. Naomi Shihab Nye More Quotes by Naomi Shihab Nye More Quotes From Naomi Shihab Nye A poem is a cup of words open to the sky and wind in a bucket. Naomi Shihab Nye buckets sky wind I keep thinking, we teach children to use language to solve their disputes. We teach them not to hit and fight and bite. Then look what adults do! Naomi Shihab Nye fighting children thinking I say yes when I mean no Naomi Shihab Nye wrinkles grows mean I'm writing mostly to thank you for living you eighty years and to tell you I love you and think of you often. Naomi Shihab Nye love-you writing thinking When allowed to return to the class, your feelings of humility and lonesomeness will render you a much finer student and person. Naomi Shihab Nye humility feelings class Read, Read, and then Read some more. Always Read. Find the voices that speak most to YOU. This is your pleasure and blessing, as well as responsibility! Naomi Shihab Nye reading responsibility book During the Gulf War, I remember two little third grade girls saying to me - after I read them some poems by writers in Iraq - 'You know, we never thought about there being children in Iraq before.' And I thought, 'Well those poems did their job, because now they'll think about everything a little bit differently.' Naomi Shihab Nye girl jobs children I'm like the weather, never really can predict when this rain cloud's gonna burst; when it's the high or it's the low, when you might need a light jacket. Sometimes I'm the slush that sticks to the bottom of your work pants, but I can easily be the melting snowflakes clinging to your long lashes. I know that some people like: sunny and seventy-five, sunny and seventy-five, sunny and seventy-five, but you take me as I am and never forget to pack an umbrella. Naomi Shihab Nye light rain clouds It was terrible when a single conversation with someone determined your whole future relationship. Naomi Shihab Nye determined terrible conversation Mystery: Everything felt better before you got there than when you actually got there. When you actually got there, you didn't quite have the energy to be there. Naomi Shihab Nye mystery felt energy Maybe when your mother died young, you became instantly old. Naomi Shihab Nye mother-died mother young Teaching and writing are separate, but serve/feed one another in so many ways. Writing travels the road inward, teaching, the road out - helping OTHERS move inward - it is an honor to be with others in the spirit of writing and encouragement. Naomi Shihab Nye encouragement teaching moving I can never see fashion models, Naomi Shihab Nye fashion hair thinking like our parents always told us not to like firefighters warn against we're playing games and making the rules up as we go we're matching warmth to warmth starting fires burning wishes into our skin we're hidden holding forbidden lights we're children whose fathers have never taught never touch but we're finding these new flames we smother at the sound of footsteps. Naomi Shihab Nye fire father children The writing of Kathleen McGookey shines more brightly than most fine things we feel pleasure to read. Celebrate it! Naomi Shihab Nye pleasure shining writing I support all people on earth who have bodies like and unlike my body. Naomi Shihab Nye support body people My mother used to tell me when I went somewhere, "Please leave your foolishness at home." But how could I do that? It was stuck on me. Naomi Shihab Nye used mother home The thousands small birds of January in their smooth soaring cloud finding the trees. Naomi Shihab Nye clouds tree bird My father was very disappointed by war and fighting. And he thought language could help us out of cycles of revenge and animosity. And so, as a journalist, he always found himself asking lots of questions and trying to gather information. He was always very clear to underscore the fact that Jewish people and Arab people were brother and sister. Naomi Shihab Nye brother revenge father What did exclusivity ever have to offer but a distorted, unrealistic view of the world? People who stuck only to their own kind were scared people. Naomi Shihab Nye groups views people
