In the October issue of Poets & Writers there is an excellent interview with Naomi Shihab Nye. I have never been a big reader of poetry, but Nye's work in particular impresses me. She often writes about political topics on her poetry and the Middle East has been a recurring subject for years. What I most like is that she is a voice of moderation (something we desperately need in all aspects of human society these days) and yet she asks very tough questions - "Why shouldn't the deaths of innocent Iraq civilians hurt as much as the deaths of our own soldiers?" When did it become so important that "we" suffer more than "them"? In fact, when did it become so easy to divide us and them in the first place?

Nye has an excellent poem in the magazine, "For Mohammed Zeid of Gaza, Age 15" about a young boy who died in Gaza from a stray bullet. The first lines are direct, they cut to the bone just as they should:

There are no stray bullets, sirs.
No bullet like a worried cat
crouching under a bush,
no half-hairless puppy bullet
doding midnight streets.
The bullet could not be a pecan
plunking the tin roof,
not hardly, no fluff of pollen
on October's breath,
no humble pebble at our feet.

Gentle it, indeed. Who decided we could say that it was a death due to "only a stray bullet". As if that makes it easier, as if that makes it okay. As if that is ever okay. The bullet didn't mean to hurt you, we say. The bullet got lost, the bullet was sorry. The poor lost bullet found you by mistake.

Don't gentle it please.

Nye has written one of my favorite YA books of the year, Going, Going about a group of kids who try to fight Wal-mart and the "big boxing" of America. I reviewed it earlier this year in Eclectica and I really can't recommend it enough. It's very topical, and funny and real and the kids are great characters to root for. After watching the unbelievable Frontline special on Wal-mart we have become a family that happily boycotts the discount giant. We just aren't interested in supporting their values. It's not easy to pass up at first, but overall the boycott has been painless. Now letting go of The Gap is a whole other deal, but all things in moderation, I suppose.

I'm really looking forward to the Indepent America documentary and hoping it makes its way to my area at some point. If not, I'll look for it on dvd for sure. I hate the fact that Florida is just one long strip mall and I'm ready to support anyone who takes the time to try and make a difference in that ugly trend.