Product Description
This digital document is an article from The Progressive, published by Thomson Gale on November 1, 2006. The length of the article is 1203 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: A poet walks the line.(Naomi Shihab Nye)
Author: Robert Hirschfield
Publication: The Progressive (Magazine/Journal)
Date: November 1, 2006
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 70Issue: 11Page: 30(2)

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Term paper due tomorrow? Need to cram for a test? Or just looking for the best information about a favorite literary work?

Turn to "Poetry for Students" to get your research done in record time. Brought to you by Thomson Gale--the world's leading source of literary criticism and analysis--this e-doc contains: author biography; poem summary; poem text (if available); discussion of the work's themes, style, and historical context; a compendium of in-depth critical material; study questions; suggestions for further reading; and much more.

Why choose "Poetry for Students"? Because no other source offers so much in such a compact package. Trust the experts: Thomson Gale--and "Poetry for Students." ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from MELUS, published by The Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnics Literature of the United States on December 22, 2007. The length of the article is 6871 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Counter narratives: cooking up stories of love and loss in Naomi Shihab Nye's poetry and Diana Abu-Jaber's Crescent.(Critical essay)
Author: Lorraine Mercer
Publication: MELUS (Magazine/Journal)
Date: December 22, 2007
Publisher: The Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnics Literature of the United States
Volume: 32Issue: 4Page: 33(14)

Article Type: Critical essay

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Product Description
This digital document is an article from Alif: Journal of Comparative Poetics, published by Thomson Gale on January 1, 2007. The length of the article is 3024 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Vital attitude of the poet: interview with Naomi Shihab Nye.(Interview)
Author: Sharif S. Elmusa
Publication: Alif: Journal of Comparative Poetics (Magazine/Journal)
Date: January 1, 2007
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Issue: 27Page: 107(8)

Article Type: Interview

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Product Description
This digital document is an article from Alif: Journal of Comparative Poetics, published by American University in Cairo on January 1, 2010. The length of the article is 10236 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Extreme realities: Naomi Shihab Nye's essays and poems.(Essay)
Author: Ibis Gomez-Vega
Publication: Alif: Journal of Comparative Poetics (Magazine/Journal)
Date: January 1, 2010
Publisher: American University in Cairo
Issue: 30Page: 109(25)

Article Type: Essay

Distributed by Gale, a part of Cengage Learning ... Read more

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In this collection of poems by one of the Ar ab world''s greatest love poets, the author pays homage to th e grace and beauty of women and takes on those who dare to i mpose taboos on women and love. ' ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

Beauiful passionate poems!!
Qabbani's poems are deeply felt and stir the senses by the reader. He is very well-known in the Arabic world and many lovers enjoy reading his verses. His poems are written for every situation and mood. He can be compared to Paul Éluard and to Neruda.
Beautiful and enjoyable!

glowing, emotional, sensual, pleasing and universal!
Nizar Qabbani's poems have the ability to transport your imagination to the world of longings, passionate encounters and emotional and physical fulfillments. His work is a true celebration of love, women, country and cities.

The poem On Entering the Sea, on which the book's title is based on, is beautiful, simple and deep. Here are some verses:
"Love happened at last
Without intimidation... with symmetry of wish.
So I gave... and you gave
And we were fair.
It happened with marvelous ease
Like writing with jasmine water,
Like a spring flowing from the ground."

His poems are glowing, emotional, sensual, pleasing and universal.

Joyce Akesson author ofLove's Thrilling Dimensions, The Invitation and Majnun Leyla: Poems about Passion

Great Intro
This book is a great intro to Mr. Qabbani's poetry. Everything about it is well done. Cover art, binding, paper stock. All excellent. This volume will have the reader searching for more of his work.

A Tribute to Love and Life
I had thought your love would end my estrangement
but you passed like water between my fingers

~Nizar Qabbani

In my eternal search for poetry infused with images of water and passion, "On Entering the Sea" appeared on the Amazon horizon. How I love this site and the ability to locate life-enhancing selections of great beauty.

The poetry of Nizar Qabbani requires atmosphere and an imagination willing to travel beyond the daily drudgery of existence into longings for home, passionate encounters and the mysteries of sensation. At times his poems have echoes of ancient works that intertwine themselves with modern complexity. His work celebrates the love of country, women and sensuous images of coffeehouses and Andalusian experiences.

I write
to save the woman I love
from the cities of no poetry,
of no love
the cities of frustration and gloom
I write to make her a misty cloud

Only woman and writing
Save us from death.

As an introduction to Nizar Qabbani, On Entering the Sea presents his work in a pleasing arrangement by translator. While the introduction by Salma Khadra Jayyusi presents an overview of the book, how I wished for a section at the end to explain the details behind many of the poems. Would this enhance my enjoyment or do the poems speak of moments so profound, no other explanation is needed? It could be said that many of his poems have a universal appeal and need no further explanation.

While his words glow with a love for the female essence in life and in women, he also explores thoughts of protecting his home, lands he loves and a different perspective on war and loss. "Posters" may be shocking to some and yet it is a representation of how Nizar Qabbani sees the world and wishes for peace all while declaring war on pride. It is highly political and yet he delves into the heart of freedom for all people. Although, I think there are poems I have yet to read which apparently display a more revolutionary approach, although this is not foreign to poets the world over. I enjoyed reading Jerusalem:

Jerusalem, beloved city of mine,
tomorrow your lemon trees will bloom,
your green stalks and branches rise up joyful,
and your eyes will laugh...

He experienced so much pain and loss and was very controversial, especially in his hometown in Damascus where he challenged cultural taboos. Too often I think we as a society have condemned the erotic, all while longing for erotic pleasures of our own. Nizar Qabbani not only sets desire free in poems, he sets women free from oppression. In "Diary of an Indifferent Woman," he writes as a woman:

I want to escape from my own skin
from my own voice, from my own language
and stray like the fragrance of gardens
I want to flee from my own shadow
and from all addresses

By the end of the poem he talks about crystal bottles with dead butterflies and the images become revelations of eternal struggles for independence and for the freedom to love. During his teenage years, his sister committed suicide, because she could not marry the man she loved.

Time after time Nizar Qabbani displays an exceptional understanding of what it means to be female all while revealing what it means to be a man. Insatiable physical love and ecstasy from the sheer vision of a woman become spiritual expressions of love for God himself. "The Book of Love" is worshipful and timeless.

The name of my love.
I wrote it on the water.
I did not know
That the wind rushes by without listening,
That names dissolve in the water.

He also asks: "What is Love?" Then he humorously explains how he cannot change the woman he loves for she is "a storm trapped in a bottle."

Most of the poems are pleasing and passionate, but there are poems displaying private pain and horror as love is ripped from his hands by the ravages of terror. He perfectly describes his grief in an unusual moment where he is standing in the rubble of an attack and remembers his wife and the cadence of her name.

As he finds her handbag in the rubble, we are convinced no man has ever loved his wife this deeply, and yet the universal message makes us realize how many have loved and lost and longed for a woman like Balquis Al-Rawi. The vision he paints of honey, jasmine moons, rubies and roses will remain in my memory for as long as I love poetry.As in many passionate poems, the feelings of the poet flowed through me and appeared in tears. His poem about his mother's death is equally poignant and we are left with the scent of coffee, cardamom seeds and orange blossom water.

If you are a lover of world poetry, the poems of Nizar Qabbani are essential reading. Through his poems you feel the ancient longings of all people in all lands and in his uncensored thoughts, we can truly experience life through his eyes. I can only hope more of his work is translated in the near future. The exciting element of his poetry is often how he absorbs experience and then defeats his own inner tyranny by writing exactly what he thinks to display the beauty of truth. You will hear echoes in his writing and realize how many contemporary spiritual teachers and poets have been students of his poetry.

To peace...

~The Rebecca Review

Unrivalled Passionate Poetry
These are the most passioante poems ever written. Some wail after unrequited love. Some bemoan the one that got away or an opportunity missed or ruined by thier own action. Many express devotion to the love that is present.

And then there are the political poems of longing for a lost land, agony for the end of a way of life and indignation at injustice. He was a great advocate for women's rights, but that work is not included in this collection.

I do not undestand why Qabbani is not better known in the US. In my opinion, he is far superior to Neruda (who was my favorite before I knew Qabbani). Less cliches, but more direct at the same time. And you hear what he has to say and reflect "that is exactly my feeling in this situation, why did I not think of that expresion...could it be said in any other way?"

I discovered him overseas, a few days before he died. I was so distressed to hear of his death, even though I only was familiar with his work a few days. In the Arab world, musicians of all stripes and capabilities attempt to use his poems as lyrics for their music. He has poems for every mood and every problem, each of them speak straight to the soul with emotion. Even people who can not normally appreciate poetry will become obsessed with Qabbani, when reading this collection. ... Read more

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The challenge for mothers of sons is to realize that because we do not share a sexual identity, that because we have not grown up in a male body, we cannot presume to understand everything there is to know about our sons' worlds.
-- Patricia Stevens

In this absolutely superb collection of mothers' personal narratives, some classic writers, as well as exciting new voices, ponder the conflicts and joys of raising sons. Patricia Stevens's Between Mothers and Sons is the first anthology in which women writers attempt to answer the question that all mothers have contemplated in the course of mothering the opposite sex: "Who is this male child who came out of my body?"

After all, the mother/son relationship is the foundation of all male/female connections. Yet in our culture, it's a relationship that has been far less closely observed than the relationship between mother and daughter.

From the earliest days of nursing to the good-byes as college and adulthood appear on the threshold, from adoptive families to biracial, from Native American to African-American mothers, these pages cover a broad range of experience. These writers collectively explore the delights and frustrations, the deep and often-conflicted emotions they feel in their roles as mothers to their male children.

"Diamonds are forever, but love can easily get lost....I picture the broken pieces of my heart inside me like the shrapnel of a war." In Jo-Ann Mapson's heartbreaking "Navigating the Channel Islands," we read of the intense pain that appears in the wake of her adolescent son's rebellion. On a more comical note, Deborah Galyan's "Watching Star Trek with Dylan" is a must for any mother who has wondered about a young son's love of things mechanical. And Valerie Monroe's bittersweet "Feet" will touch every mother on the planet: "As I unwrapped the slippers and carefully placed them on this rug, I thought, they're his feet, after all. And step by step, they will take him away from me."

Between Mothers and Sons resoundingly, if unflinchingly, celebrates this new journey that we are all making with our boys. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

A wonderful anthology
I found this anthology wonderfully refreshing, and very validating.It gives affirmation to the intense emotional endeavor of raising a young man, and allows a communal feeling with other mothers on the same journey.The stories are poignantly shared, and are passionately detailed.I recommend this book to any Mother raising a son!

Inspired *me* to start writing again
Perhaps this collection resonated more deeply with me than other reviewers because I consider myself a feminist *and* a mother of two spirited sons. My eldest son is only five years old and his nemesis/favorite person in the known universe a mere three and a half, but this rich book struck a chord deep within me that has not been played enough as a busy mother. I couldn't get enough of these esays. I am still hungry for more, so I pick up my pen and write a little bit everyday now.

Something here for everyone
As with many short story / essay collections, it is hard to review the book overall as the individual contributions are uneven.
In this case, almost all are moving and at least some will touch a heartstring (or raw nerve!) in every mother.
Many play the feminist angle, which I felt may be somewhat misplaced in a mother-son relationship.
A couple I'd already read in other collections (e.g. `Toddler'), including one of my personal favourites, Jonathan Bing by Priscilla Leigh MacKinley, about a mother who lost her sight during childbirth and has to adapt to becoming blind and the responsibility of responsibility of caring for a new baby at the same time ... the thought alone makes me shudder, but she writes about it beautifully and it was a joy to read again.
All-in-all, I enjoyed this book and would recommend it.

Memorable reading, great range of experiences
Each in her own way, the writers in this collection make complex connections -- with their sons and with readers.There's a great range of experiences here for the reader who wants to concentrate on the mother-sonrelationship rather than on family relationships in general.

I sometimescried and more often laughed -- but I also thought about my female friendsand their sons, and agreed with what I was reading -- then remembered mymother and sisters and their sons, and argued back -- considered my malefriends, and understood more than I had before.

The authors had somegreat stories to tell, and the quality of the writing fully repaid a second(and for some essays, a third) reading.The author's own very movingcontribution was my favorite, but months after reading the book, there aremany moments I remember.

Incredible
I bought Between Mothers and Sons for myself as a Mother's Day gift when my son was 3 months old. I was moved viscerally by the essays contained in this book. Although I do agree with the reviewer from Wisconsin that thecollective voice of these essays is limited, I feel that the emotionaltumult felt and expressed by these very talented women is universal. ... Read more

Product Description
Jerry Middlebrook, Mary Gutierrez, Robyn Rutland, Sandra Scherbenske, Jason Witherspoon, Austin Stoker, Spring Odiorne, Alison Sagebiel, Alfonso Vargas ... There are 100 poems in this book by 100 poets who wrote their poems when they were in grades one through twelve. These poets are not famous. You have not read their poems before. These poets live anywhere. They are now dentists and dancers and teachers and students and construction workers. They write with fire. They could be you.Amazon.com Review
"How should we use poetry?" people sometimes ask poet NaomiShihab Nye. She responds, "Read it! Share it with one another! Findpoems that make you resonate. Different poems will do this for everyperson. We 'use poetry' to restore us to feeling, revitalize our ownspeech, awaken empathy."

Over the past 25 years Nye has "used poetry" in classroom workshops inschools all over the country. In this lush, amusing, and touchinganthology she gathers 100 poems and divides them into four groupings:"My Shadow Is an Ant's Night" (poems about the self and the inner world),"Think How Many Stories Are in Your Shirt" (about where we live), "MyGrandma Squashes Roaches with Her Hand" (about family), and "Silence IsLike a Tractor Moving the Whole World" (about the imagination). Studentsin grades 1 through 12 are represented in this anthology, brilliantlyillustrated by the talented Coretta Scott King Honor recipient AshleyBryan. These young poets have mostly grown up, now, to become dentistsand actors and construction workers, but the purity of their work liveson, as in the poignant "One" by Butch McElroy:

"We had a
'Most commonly misspelled word'
Spelling test
Yesterday in English,
Fourth Period.
I commonly misspelled them all.
Except one.
Loneliness
Was the only one I got right."

(Ages 8 and older) --Emilie Coulter ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Salting the Ocean - Poetry
This book is a good compilation of children's poetry about self, environment, family, and imagination.As a teacher, I found it to be a good resource to get my students thinking creatively/"outside the box" when delving into the poetic realm.

Fun for Kids and Fun for family
My kids (Age:7&10) and I all enjoyed this book very muchsince we received in the mail from Amazon.Every night, we take turnreading to each other -- usually I go first and then the kids.Thekids enjoy all the funny ones and the wonderful drawings that Ashley had created.This is a really great book.My daughter even recognized a few of these poems as her teacher had shared with her class early this year. ... Read more

Product Description
Special Issue: Multicultural Writing in America. Panel discussion, articles, poetry. ... Read more