Poetry Notes 5-6 HW
My Father and the Fig Tree
For other fruits, my father was indifferent.
He'd point at the cherry trees and say,
"See those? I wish they were figs."
In the evening he sat by my bed
weaving folktales like vivid little scarves.
They always involved a figtree.
Even when it didn't fit, he'd stick it in.
Once Joha was walking down the road
and he saw a fig tree.
Or, he tied his camel to a fig tree and went to sleep.
Or, later when they caught and arrested him,
his pockets were full of figs.
Analysis: Father is obsessed with figs. Cherry trees (are symbolic to American culture) He does not care for any other type of fruits or vegetables. He is a very good story teller. He puts a fig tree in every story he tells. One story he says zgets arrested for possibly stealing figs from a tree. The figs are a important symbol that make connections with his culture and identity.
At age six I ate a dried fig and shrugged.
"That's not what I'm talking about! he said,
"I'm talking about a fig straight from the earth –
gift of Allah! -- on a branch so heavy
it touches the ground.
I'm talking about picking the largest, fattest,
sweetest fig
in the world and putting it in my mouth."
(Here he'd stop and close his eyes.)
Analysis: Naomi tries a fig for the first time and doesn't think much of it. Her father says that the fig she tries is not the same as the one that he likes. Figs straight from the earth are the ones that he desires. He sees them as a gift from Allah, and the sweetest of figs from the tree is the one that Naomi's father loves.
Years passed, we lived in many houses,
none had figtrees.
We had lima beans, zucchini, parsley, beets.
"Plant one!" my mother said.
But my father never did.
He tended garden half-heartedly, forgot to water,
let the okra get too big.
"What a dreamer he is. Look how many things
he starts and doesn't finish."
Analysis: They move to many place, none have figs. Her father is disappointed and never plants any other kind of plant. "Look how many things he starts and doesn't finish." However, father most likely does this purposely
The last time he moved, I got a phone call,
My father, in Arabic, chanting a song
I'd never heard. "What's that?"
He took me out back to the new yard.
There, in the middle of Dallas, Texas,
a tree with the largest, fattest,
sweetest fig in the world.
"It's a figtree song!" he said,
plucking his fruits like ripe tokens,
emblems, assurance
of a world that was always his own.
Analysis: Years have passed and she gets a phone call from her father. Dallas, the father finds a fig free with rig and plump fruits. It brings him memories and joy of his past time. The figs are obviously important in the life of the father and it had an impact on young Naomi. Figs are a fruit that. He doesn't want to plant one because he doesn't want to force his culture on others. It would be artificial, and he wants to find a place where figs grow naturally.
-Naomi Shihab Nye
Free verse poetry, No specific structure, no rhyme scene
(6 lines)
the center of the flower.
He'd point at the cherry trees and say,
"See those? I wish they were figs."
In the evening he sat by my bed
weaving folktales like vivid little scarves.
They always involved a figtree.
Even when it didn't fit, he'd stick it in.
Once Joha was walking down the road
and he saw a fig tree.
Or, he tied his camel to a fig tree and went to sleep.
Or, later when they caught and arrested him,
his pockets were full of figs.
Analysis: Father is obsessed with figs. Cherry trees (are symbolic to American culture) He does not care for any other type of fruits or vegetables. He is a very good story teller. He puts a fig tree in every story he tells. One story he says zgets arrested for possibly stealing figs from a tree. The figs are a important symbol that make connections with his culture and identity.
At age six I ate a dried fig and shrugged.
"That's not what I'm talking about! he said,
"I'm talking about a fig straight from the earth –
gift of Allah! -- on a branch so heavy
it touches the ground.
I'm talking about picking the largest, fattest,
sweetest fig
in the world and putting it in my mouth."
(Here he'd stop and close his eyes.)
Analysis: Naomi tries a fig for the first time and doesn't think much of it. Her father says that the fig she tries is not the same as the one that he likes. Figs straight from the earth are the ones that he desires. He sees them as a gift from Allah, and the sweetest of figs from the tree is the one that Naomi's father loves.
Years passed, we lived in many houses,
none had figtrees.
We had lima beans, zucchini, parsley, beets.
"Plant one!" my mother said.
But my father never did.
He tended garden half-heartedly, forgot to water,
let the okra get too big.
"What a dreamer he is. Look how many things
he starts and doesn't finish."
Analysis: They move to many place, none have figs. Her father is disappointed and never plants any other kind of plant. "Look how many things he starts and doesn't finish." However, father most likely does this purposely
The last time he moved, I got a phone call,
My father, in Arabic, chanting a song
I'd never heard. "What's that?"
He took me out back to the new yard.
There, in the middle of Dallas, Texas,
a tree with the largest, fattest,
sweetest fig in the world.
"It's a figtree song!" he said,
plucking his fruits like ripe tokens,
emblems, assurance
of a world that was always his own.
Analysis: Years have passed and she gets a phone call from her father. Dallas, the father finds a fig free with rig and plump fruits. It brings him memories and joy of his past time. The figs are obviously important in the life of the father and it had an impact on young Naomi. Figs are a fruit that. He doesn't want to plant one because he doesn't want to force his culture on others. It would be artificial, and he wants to find a place where figs grow naturally.
-Naomi Shihab Nye
Arabic Coffee
Free verse poetry, No specific structure, no rhyme scene
(6 lines)
It was never too strong for us:
make it blacker, Papa,
thick in the bottom,
tell again how the years will gather
in small white cups,
how luck lives in a spot of grounds.
Analysis: Strong coffee, but not to strong for the people in her family, Some even want it stronger. This could be symbolic for Arab culture being strong willful minded when many judge them for who they think that they are
(25 Lines)
Leaning over the stove, he let it
boil to the top, and down again.
Two times. No sugar in his pot.
And the place where men and women
break off from one another
was not present in that room.
The hundred disappointments,
fire swallowing olive-wood beads
at the warehouse, and the dreams
tucked like pocket handkerchiefs
into each day, took their places
on the table, near the half-empty
dish of corn. And none was
more important than the others,
and all were guests. When
he carried the tray into the room,
high and balanced in his hands,
it was an offering to all of them,
stay, be seated, follow the talk
wherever it goes. The coffee wasthe center of the flower.
Like clothes on a line saying
you will live long enough to wear me,
a motion of faith. There is this,
and there is more.
Analysis: They do not add sugar to the strong black coffee. They do not change their culture for anyone. They embrace who they are. However, they accept guests and let them sit at the table with them.
From reading these 2 poems of Naomi, I get a sense for what her poetry is all about. She wants to show us that not all Muslims and Arabs are like the ones so commonly portrayed in today's news. Their culture is rich and strong, deeply rooted and family oriented. The message is one that needs to be shared on a higher level and I believe her poetry does a wonderful job of telling stories of her family live and costumes that her family has.
From reading these 2 poems of Naomi, I get a sense for what her poetry is all about. She wants to show us that not all Muslims and Arabs are like the ones so commonly portrayed in today's news. Their culture is rich and strong, deeply rooted and family oriented. The message is one that needs to be shared on a higher level and I believe her poetry does a wonderful job of telling stories of her family live and costumes that her family has.
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