Naomi Shihab Nye

I really enjoyed reading My Father and the Figtree. Although I have not tasted very many figs in my life, and I don't hold a particular affection for them, I understand that they are something special. The father in the poem reminded me of my grandfather. My grandfather grew a garden and always wanted to talk about it with us. This poem made me smile because the father in the poem really loved figs and included them in the bedtime stories that he wrote for his daughter. I found some deeper meaning within this poem. After the girl eats a dried fig, she doesn't really care for it. Her father tells her that she has to eat a fresh, plump one. This kind of reminds me of life in general. Our lives can become dry. We need to hold onto those fig moments; moments where we taste a life that is juicy and full of flavor. I think the fig in this poem is sort of a metaphor for life. The father always wanted to have a fulfilling life and not a dry and boring existence. In the end, that is what he got because he ended up planting the fig tree which was his lifelong dream.

I also really enjoyed reading Arabic Coffee. I greatly enjoy the taste of coffee. I like how Naomi compares drinking coffee to life. The language in these poems is really amazing, but this one in particular stood out to me. She uses really good similes and metaphors. I especially liked the one about dreams being like folded handkerchiefs. I often forget what kind of embroidery is on the inside of my handkerchiefs. That is how my dreams are sometimes: folded and tucked away. A good dream is often that way because the topic is usually something that I remember but not the entire context of everything unless I open it up and dwell on it.