The Rider

A boy told me

if he roller-skated fast enough

his loneliness couldn’t catch up to him,

the best reason I ever heard

for trying to be a champion.

What I wonder tonight

pedaling hard down King William Street

is if it translates to bicycles.

A victory! To leave your loneliness

panting behind you on some street corner

while you float free into a cloud of sudden azaleas,

pink petals that have never felt loneliness,

no matter how slowly they fell.

MARGINALIA

Hello, weekend. Crossing my fingers I get to write and not go back to my desk to work. Or maybe I should go out and see some friends, just to keep the melancholy at bay. A few days ago I have started another journal to talk about the creative process (ha! how pretentious) — well,  my  creative process, as an attempt to dissect myself and maybe understand if I have a method behind the madness. Been living in my head for far too long; I need to feel that I’m not the only one who’s like this. I feel that by talking about it, by forcing myself to face how I go about my life, then maybe I can learn how to gather my bearings once in a while. And yeah I started it because I can’t afford a shrink (heh), and I really wanted to see one.

Anyway. Here’s one of the loveliest poets ever.

ABOUT NAOMI SHIHAB NYE

Naomi Shihab Nye was born on March 12, 1952, in St. Louis to a Palestinian father and an American mother. Nye is the author of numerous poetry collections, including    Grace Notes: Poems about Family    (Greenwillow Bookss, 2024);    Cast Away: Poems for Our Time    (Greenwillow Books, 2020);    The Tiny Journalist    (BOA Editions, Ltd., 2019);    Voices in the Air: Poems for Listeners    (Greenwillow Books, 2018);    Transfer    (BOA Editions, Ltd., 2011);    You and Yours    (BOA Editions, Ltd., 2005) and    19 Varieties  …  (more)

Naomi Shihab Nye was born on March 12, 1952, in St. Louis to a Palestinian father and an American mother. Nye is the author of numerous poetry collections, including    Grace Notes: Poems about Family    (Greenwillow Bookss, 2024);    Cast Away: Poems for Our Time    (Greenwillow Books, 2020);    The Tiny Journalist    (BOA Editions, Ltd., 2019);    Voices in the Air: Poems for Listeners    (Greenwillow Books, 2018);    Transfer    (BOA Editions, Ltd., 2011);    You and Yours    (BOA Editions, Ltd., 2005) and    19 Varieties of Gazelle: Poems of the Middle East    (Greenwillow Books, 2002), a collection of new and selected poems. ( Source )

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ENDNOTES

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ON THIS DAY

On This Day

Mistake by Heather Christle

2026

Words From A Totem Animal by W. S. Merwin

2012

The Rider by Naomi Shihab Nye

2011

A New Poet by Linda Pastan

2008