a pair of amazing poems by Naomi Shihab Nye (+ a giveaway)

~ jama

Don’t you love it when a special book finds you just when you need it the most?

Recently Naomi Shihab Nye’s luminous collection, A Maze Me: Poems for Girls (Greenwillow, 2005), caught my attention while I was looking for poems about hope. I had shared “Sifter” here when Nye was first named Young People’s Poet Laureate back in 2019, but hadn’t read any other poems from the book.

Though I’m a longtime Nye fan, I somehow missed this one. Big mistake, huge oversight. Better late than never, but I truly wish I’d read this book 20 years ago.

Can’t remember the last time I was so moved, delighted, inspired, and yes, amazed by a collection of poems for tween girls. Nye actually had me at her Introduction, where she discusses her unsettling junior high years, a time when she was the only one among her friends who didn’t want to leave childhood behind for the grim restrictions of adulthood. She wanted to remain open, observant, impressionable, safe, “amazed forever.”

photo of Naomi Shihab Nye by Rajah Bose.

Her poems took me right back to my own tweenhood, a very odd, awkward experience where the only memories I have are of a favorite black velveteen skirt, the SRA Reading Lab (I was stuck at Green while my classmates zoomed up to Aqua), and slipping on a freshly mopped floor while being chased by my algebra teacher (whom I had teased). But I loved the Beatles, and that was enough for me.

Here are two of my favorite poems from A Maze Me: the first is about how small things can have a big impact; and the second describes the person I’m still striving to become.

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Mexican Folk Art Chair via VintageGoodThings.
LITTLE CHAIR
by Naomi Shihab Nye

"There's a cool web of language winds us in . . . "
~ Robert Graves

"I saw great things mirrored in littleness . . . "
~ Edith Sitwell

1.

I didn't mind so much
growing out of little girl clothes
the blue striped shirt
the corduroy jumper
giving up Candy Land
and my doctor's kit
but never again to fit
the turquoise Mexican chair
with flowers painted on it
hurt

I keep it in my room till now
a throne for the stuffed camel
Little kids sit on it when they visit
The straw in the seat is still strong
The flowers are always blooming

2.

Miss Ruth Livingston
who taught first grade for forty-three years
in Marfa, Texas
kept a little reading chair
in front of the windows in her classroom
Whenever her students finished their work
they knew they could go over to the little chair
and read
It was a safe place
Their minds could wander anywhere
I wish everyone in the world had a little chair

3. 

Recently a big cowboy wearing sunglasses
came to Miss Livingston's house and asked where
"that old furniture from our classroom went"
She's ninety-seven now
She still has her china-faced dolls
from when she was small
She pointed at the wooden reading chair
sitting in front of the windows
in her beautiful living room
He walked over to the little chair
with his hands folded
and silently stood there, stood there

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“Ice Cream Man” by Scott Moore.
RINGING 
by Naomi Shihab Nye

A baby, I stood in my crib to hear
the dingy-ding of a vegetable truck approaching.

When I was bigger, my mom took me out
    to the street
to meet the man who rang the bell and
    he tossed me
a tangerine…the first thing I ever caught.
    I thought he was
a magic man.

My mom said there used to be milk trucks too.
    She said, Look hard, he’ll be gone soon.
And she was right. He disappeared.

Now, when I hear an ice-cream truck chiming
    its bells, I fly.
Even if I’m not hungry–just to watch it pass.

Mailmen with their chime of dogs barking
up and down the street are magic too.

They are all bringers.
I want to be a bringer.

I want to drive a truck full of eggplants
down the smallest street.
I want to be someone making music
with my coming.

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What were you like at age 12? 🙂

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🍊 SPECIAL BOOK GIVEAWAY 🪑

The 70-something resident Paddingtons are happy to present one lucky Alphabet Soup reader with two books by Naomi Shihab Nye: A Maze Me: Poems for Girls and Grace Notes: Poems About Families (2024). Since A Maze Me is an older title, they guessed you might already own it, so they wanted to pair it with Nye’s most recent title. For a chance to win both books, please leave a comment at this post no later than midnight (EDT) Wednesday, April 30, 2025. You may also enter by sending an email with AMAZING in the subject line to: readermail (at) jamakimrattigan (dot) com. Giveaway open to U.S. residents only, please. Good Luck!

*And don’t forget — there’s still time to enter the other NPM Giveaways in case you missed them. Click on these posts and leave a comment. All winners will be announced next Friday. 🙂

A Universe of Rainbows

Savor: Poems for the Tongue

Two Emilys by Andrea Potos

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Lovely and talented Heidi Mordhorst is hosting the Roundup at My Juicy Little Universe. Waltz on over to check out the full menu of poetic goodness being shared around the blogosphere this week. Have a nice weekend!

*Copyright © 2025 Jama Rattigan of Jama’s Alphabet Soup. All rights reserved.

25 thoughts on “a pair of amazing poems by Naomi Shihab Nye (+ a giveaway)”

  1. Poetry Friday is my “church,” renewing a sense of wonderment and instilling a feeling of peace–both sentiments that are all too rare in times like these.

    Liked by 1 person

  2. I have A Maze Me on my school library shelf…I think I’m going to go to work and take it to my desk today. I could use some NSN on a crazy long Friday. Today I teach all day, set up book fair after school and then am at my school’s community night and international food fair. Good stuff and a lot to do!

    Liked by 1 person

  4. Jama, I was lucky enough to find A Maze Me at a thrift store recently and now I will dive in head first. “Ringing”–oh, oh, oh. And I remember the SRA Kits too. Wonderful post.

    Liked by 1 person

  5. Dear Jama, you most certainly are a bringer. You make music! My 3rd grade teacher had a bathtub in her classroom. It was filled with cushions and served the same purpose as that small chair. So so lovely! Naomi has given us SO MUCH. xo

    Liked by 1 person

  7. I’m definitely amazed with this post and Nye’s books, I love this ending line, “I want to be someone making music
    with my coming.” Such a lovely thought and 💝 gift! At 12 outside: tall, thin, short curly hair, inside: getting ready to take on the world, but slowly, it wasn’t ready for me yet… Thanks Jama 💙🐝🪻🦋🌼

    Liked by 1 person

  10. When I was a tween and even younger I lived in a little house below street level that was surrounded by a yard with grass, trees, and my father’s vegetable garden. My mother was not well and we rarely ventured beyond this lovely world but we had many “bringers.” From the milkman and bread man in the mornings to the egg man and soda man in the afternoons, our lives were full with these “bringers” who became our friends too. They would sit and talk awhile and we looked forward to their company. We were happy and believed had everything. Partly thanks to the “bringers” and partly thanks to my mother who taught us to believe.

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  11. I’ve been honoring Poetry month each day in April so I was delighted to read the offerings here from a poet that I was not previously familiar with. Thank you!

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  12. I’ve had this book in my classroom since it was published. One of my favorite lines of all time is from “Ringing”: “I want to be someone making musicwith my coming.” Tricia Stohr Hunt cross-stitched the line for me one year for a poetry exchange, so I see it every day.

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  14. Oh to be a bringer “making music/with my coming”! This is definitely something to aspire to and I’ll be thinking about it in the coming days. NSN is a favorite. I’m pretty sure my daughter received “A Maze Me” as a gift and I suspect it’s still in our house somewhere…now to launch a search!

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  15. Oh my gosh Jama! Takes you back to an era when we had time….. time to notice, time to consider, time to work it all out… now the young are introduced to distractions of all manner at a very young age…seldom do you see a child looking out the window seeking answers… it’s straight to the device… i join your readers in nostalgic gratitude for the delicious time for “noticing” we all enjoyed👏

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  17. Oh, Jama, thank you so much for sharing the two poems by Nye from A Maze Me. I’m just in awe, definitely amazed. I just placed a request for it through our library system. It will come soon. I can’t wait. Thank you for all you do here with the literacy magic (and the book giveaways).

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  19. Thank you for helping so many of us (me included) rectify this gap in our NSN reading! When I was 12 I was completely weird and pretty much an outsider. The good news is, I’m still completely weird but I have found my people (lots of them right here on PF!!)

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  20. Your posts are always such a visual delight, and that first photo with the book and the objects echoing the colors and shapes is just wonderful.

    Thank you for letting me know about A Maze Me, which I’d missed too. I especially love the poem about the chair. Objects can hold so much.

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  21. Hmm, in 2005, I was an exhausted 45-yr. old mom of a 3 yr. old (and a 9- and 12-yr. old) and I somehow I missed A Maze Me! But it looks absolutely perfect. ❤️

    I can relate to still running to the window when I hear an ice cream truck, which doesn’t happen often, but when it does, it still feels like magic.

    Liked by 1 person

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