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Voices in the Air: Poems for Listeners

“Can we go outside and listen?” Naomi Nye ponders in her introduction. Or stay in. Reflect. Pay. Attention. If we do, we’ll find there is no such thing as a too- small moment or memory. The poems here range topically from the treatment of Palestinians (grief ), to Ferguson, where Nye grew up (more grief ), to the way genuine connection uplifts her. Many poets and writers are introduced— some in dedications, some in the poems themselves—and further illuminated in Nye’s brief comments at volume’s end. Nye is, above all, a poet of hope and heartening. In “Mountains,” she writes about Jesse, a young man of 21 who was once a 6-year-old child in one of her poetry workshops. “It was my Best Day!” he tells her, and wonders how he can get back to that feeling. “... You knew the truth / when you were six that your street was magical / and full of mountains / though it was utterly flat. / You wrote about the rooster’s songs / and the dog’s barkingful wonder. / You wrote Who do you think I am am am? / And knew instinctively it was more powerful to say / ‘am’ / three times than one— / You are still that person.” Go Jesse. Go Naomi. ©2019 Cooperative Children’s Book Center

CCBC Age Recommendation: Age 11 and older
Age Range: Grades 6-8 (Ages 11-13) Grades 9-12 (Age 14 and older)
Format: Poetry
Subjects: Grief and Loss Hope and Healing Palestinians and Palestinian Americans Writers and Writing
Diversity subject: Multicultural General

Publishers: Greenwillow, HarperCollins
Publish Year: 2018
Pages: 190
ISBN: 9780062691842

CCBC Location: Non-Fiction, 811 Nye

Voices in the Air: Poems for Listeners