José Antonio Rodríguez discusses the profound beauty of Naomi Shihab Nye's poem 'World of the Future We Thirsted', exploring themes of environmental neglect and desperation. He also reads his own poem 'Tender' reflecting on familial dynamics and tenderness amidst adversity.

What’s it like to be owned by the world, to have populations claiming you, to have millions speaking on your behalf? Naomi Shihab Nye takes a close look — from a distance — at Jesus, and herself.Naomi Shihab Nye is a professor of creative writing at Texas State University. From 2019-2021, Nye was the Young People's Poet Laureate through the Poetry Foundation. She is the author of You & Yours (BOA Editions 2005). Her more recent books include The Tiny Journalist (BOA Editions 2019), Voices in the Air: Poems for Listeners (Greenwillow Books 2022), Cast Away (HarperCollins 2020), and Everything Comes Next: Collected and New Poems (Greenwillow Books 2020). She received the 2019 Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Book Critics Circle.Find the transcript for this show at onbeing.org.We’re pleased to offer Naomi Shihab Nye’s poem, and invite you to connect with Poetry Unbound throughout this season.Order your copy of Poetry Unbound: 50 Poems to Open Your World and join us in our vibrant conversational space on Substack.

Award-winning poet Naomi Shihab Nye emphasizes the life-changing benefits of paying attention, offering wisdom for living through poetry. She explores the power of questions, kindness, and cultural diversity, promoting empathy and human connection. Nye's moving poems reflect moments of beauty and humanity, reminding us to cherish small wonders in life.

Delve into Naomi Shihab Nye's powerful poem 'The Traveling Onion' and uncover the deeper meaning behind seemingly ordinary objects. Explore the significance of heritage, peace, and the beauty found in simple things through the lens of poetry.

It’s pretty intriguing to follow poet Naomi Shihab Nye’s idea that most of us actually “think in poems” whether we know it or not. Rarely, as she points out, do you hear anyone say they feel worse after writing things down. That, she says, can be a tool to survive in hard times like these, to anchor our days - and to get into a conversation and community with all of the selves that live on in each of us at any given moment - “your child self, your older self, your confused self, your self-that-makes-a-lot-of-mistakes.” We also hear her read her beloved poem “Kindness” and tell us the story behind it.Naomi Shihab Nye is the Young People's Poet Laureate through the Poetry Foundation and a professor of creative writing at Texas State University. Her recent books include The Tiny Journalist, Voices in the Air: Poems for Listeners, Cast Away, and Everything Comes Next: Collected and New Poems. She received the 2019 Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Book Critics Circle.Find the transcript for this show at onbeing.org.This show originally aired on July 28, 2016.