Gabriella Brand

The editors of Verse of April, Volume II asked writers to choose a modern poet and write a tribute to them, including a poem in their honor. My poem Muelama: To Naomi Shihab Nye was chosen for inclusion in this unique anthology.

I first discovered Naomi Shihab Nye within the pages of the Poetry Archive of the On Being Project. She is a Palestinian/American poet who sees across borders and embraces our differences….whether cultural, religious, linguistic or physical. I feel she is a needed voice for our times. Humbly, I call her muelama, or teacher in Arabic.

Muelama

I could meet you at the airport gate, 
me with the wispy hair, the pale cheeks.
I would sit next to you, with your thick-braided, 
sun-drenched generosity, and together 
we eat those mamool cookies,
let the snow of powdered sugar
dust our laps.
Or yet again, I could meet you in the desert,
at a lush green oasis,
where my thin, stingy wafer of a heart
would plump up and burst from borrowed kindness.
Or we could meet in the city, at the vacant lot
where you would show me
how to scratch the earth, pull cakes from the rubble,
sift for something sweet, like hope.

If you haven’t read Nye, please look her up. My little tribute can be found here:http://www.verseofapril.com/gabriella-brand