“Valentine for Ernest Mann” Naomi Shihab Nye

Naomi Shihab Nye Naomi Shihab Nye was born on March 12, 1952, in St. Louis, Missouri, to a Palestinian father and an American mother. During her high school years, she lived in Ramallah in Jordan, the Old City in Jerusalem, and San Antonio, Texas, where she later received her B.A. in English and world religions from Trinity University. Nye gives voice to her experience as an Arab-American through poems about heritage and peace that overflow with a humanitarian spirit. About her work, the poet William Stafford has said, "her poems combine transcendent liveliness and sparkle along with warmth and human insight. She is a champion of the literature of encouragement and heart. Reading her work enhances life." At the age of six, Nye began writing poems as soon as she learned how to write. She was influenced by her mother who read to her all the time. At first her early works were based on childish things such as cats, squirrels, friends, teachers, etc. It wasn't until she was fourteen that she visited her Palestinian grandmother; this would eventually become part of the messages in her many collections of poetry. Her book "Fuel" is an example. Some of her earlier works were published in Seventeen, Modern Poetry Studies, and Ironwood Her poems and short stories have appeared in various journals and reviews throughout North America, Europe, and the Middle and Far East. She has traveled to the Middle East and Asia for the United States Information Agency three times, promoting international goodwill through the arts.

Lyric Poem Expresses feelings Does not tell a story Usually short Implies a single, strong emotion

Reading a Poem Pay attention to punctuation. Find the subject and verb. Look for figures of speech. Listen to the poem. Read it again. Have fun.

“Valentine for Ernest Mann” You can’t order a poem like you order a taco. Walk up to the counter, say, “I’ll take two” and expect it to be handed back to you on a shiny plate.

Valentine for Ernest Mann Still, I like your spirit. Anyone who says, “Here’s my address, write me a poem,” deserves something in reply. So I’ll tell you a secret instead: poems hide. In the bottom of our shoes, they are sleeping. They are the shadows drifting across our ceilings the moment before we wake up. What we have to do is live in a way that lets us find them.

Valentine for Ernest Mann Once I knew a man who gave his wife two skunks for a valentine. He couldn’t understand why she was crying. “I thought they had such beautiful eyes.” And he was serious. He was a serious man who lived in a serious way. Nothing was ugly just because the world said so. He really liked those skunks. So, he re-invented them as valentines and they became beautiful. At least, to him. And the poems that had been hiding in the eyes of skunks for centuries crawled out and curled up at his feet.

Valentine for Ernest Mann Maybe if we re-invent whatever our lives give us we find poems. Check your garage, the odd sock in your drawer, the person you almost like, but not quite. And let me know.

Reading Check What do you know about Ernest Mann, the person this poem is addressed to? What reason does the speaker give for writing this poem? What secret about poetry does the speaker share with Ernest Mann? What reason did the man in the poem give for choosing two skunks for a valentine? Where does the speaker say we might find poems?

Interpretations In the first stanza the poet uses a simile. What two very different things is she comparing? What is she saying about poems by using this simile? In the second stanza the poet personifies poems. What human things does she say poems can do? What is she telling us about poems by using this figure of speech? The second stanza also includes a metaphor. What are poems compared to? What does this metaphor tell us about poems? Why does the speaker tell us about the man and the skunks in the third stanza? What do skunks have to do with poetry? What final advice does the speaker give Ernest Mann?

Writing Follow Naomi Shihab’s advice, and try to find a lyric poem in your life. Use words that will help your reader see or touch or smell an object or person the way you do. Help your reader feel the way you feel about the object or person.