The Rider

“Blood” by Naomi Shihab Nye (1995)

“Blood,” published in Nye’s collection Words Under the Words: Selected Poems is an important meditation on what it means to be Arab American during a time of war. In the poem, the speaker tries to reconcile their American upbringing with being half-Arab. It is very different in form and subject from “The Rider.”

“The End of Exile” by Solmaz Sharif (2018)

Solmaz Sharif is an Iranian American contemporary poet. Like Nye, Sharif writes of a lost Middle Eastern homeland. “The End of Exile” speaks to what it feels like to leave behind a part of oneself (a city, a homeland) and try to continue living, despite this wound. As shown in “Blood,” Nye feels a similar wound living as a multiracial individual in America.

“Bees Were Better” by Naomi Shihab Nye (2008)

In “Bees Were Better,” bees inspire the speaker in a way that the boy and his story did in “The Rider.”

“Naomi Shihab Nye” Dodge Poetry Festival Reading (2008)

In this short video, Naomi Shihab Nye reads four poems: “Please Describe How You Became a Writer,” “Fresh,” “During a War,” and “Truth Serum.