Different ways to pray: Poems

by Naomi Shihab Nye

Genres: Poetry

First published January 1, 1980

About the author

Naomi Shihab Nye was born to a Palestinian father and an American mother. During her high school years, she lived in Ramallah in Jordan, the Old City in Jerusalem, and San Antonio, Texas, where she later received her B.A. in English and world religions from Trinity University. She is a novelist, poet and songwriter.

She currently lives in San Antonio, Texas. She was elected a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets in 2010.

Reviews

[Lenora Good · Rating 5 out of 5]

A friend cleaned out his bookshelf the other day and gave me his copy of Different Ways to Pray, because he knows I'd love it and appreciate it. He was so right!

Ms Nye is bi-cultural (American/Palestinian) and finds the commonality in peoples throughout the world. Many of these poems are from a time she spent in South America, there is at least one for her grandmother in Palestine. They show how people the world over pray, not by rote or ritual, but by love and living.

[Jason Morrison · Rating 3 out of 5]

The anaphoric poems in this collection are the strongest. Like psalms.