61. Grace Notes

61. Grace Notes: Poems About Families. Naomi Shihab Nye. 2024. 240 pages. [Source: Library] [4 stars] [poetry, nonfiction]

First sentence (from the introduction): Families. They're our first circle. We wake up to them as babies, clicking into focus, identifying, absorbing...forever discovering who they are. Who we think they are is only one little window.

First poem:
My whole life
would not have happened without
a man whose name I do not know
who died in the snow.
He was young,
had been married only three months
to my mama's best friend.

 

This one is a themed poetry collection; it is without a doubt POETRY. But is it also a memoir or autobiography??? I think one could argue that it might very well be. I believe the author is writing personal poems about HER family. But it's not described as a memoir in its description so I'm hesitant to say emphatically that all the poems are autobiographical and this is a memoir in verse.

The target audience? I think the target audience would be older and not younger. These poems are COMPLEX, layered even. Sure, the words themselves may not be mature in nature, but the meanings and themes are so deep--philosophical and/or abstract in nature--that readers need as much life experience as possible to unpack the meaning. The poems are also REFLECTIVE and best read in the context of how they were written--during the grieving process. The parent-child relationship can be complex no matter the age, but the parent and adult-child relationship is more at play in this collection. It is more a journeying alongside the author as she explores relationships in the family through more adult eyes.

I do NOT under any circumstance expect all books to be written with a Christian point of view. I don't. I don't think that would be fair in general, however, I will note that this one is a patchwork--piecework--of many, many, many religions and spiritual faiths, none of which are particularly Christian. So you have a very reflective, philosophical, abstract book of poetry without a christian world view. This is neither good nor bad--it just is. Again, I do not expect all books to be Christian. 

Quotes

From "How Parents Ever Get Together Anyway"
The fact we exist at all
is a random grace note
of a forgotten symphony.

From "Mother Muscle"
Mother muscles become tough. They have to.
People pulling on them
all the time. Ferocious mamas
stomping through the tangled wilderness
searching for berries. Mamas worrying
night and day.

From "Sides of the Family"
These grandmas did not meet. But I think there were little lines
between them like dotted ripples in a star constellation diagram.
Big Dipper, small dipper, they both shone down on us
all our lives. They were constants.

From "Union Boulevard, St. Louis"
Life
is full of mysteries.
They're not mine, not yours.
They're life's.

From "Out"
No one is big enough to notice
all that might be noticed.
No one is small enough,
no one is big enough.

From "Every Age"
If you open the door
to happiness
what comes through?
Friends come through.
Something new comes through.

 From "Every Age"
Is it possible
to be every age at once,
forever?
Some say so.

From "The Pleaser"
Why do we need someone to say
you make me happy,
you're great.
Is that a basic need
like sleeping and eating?

From "In Morning"

Each morning
we put ourselves together
Try to imagine
what we will do,
gathering tools and
thoughts.
We carry the mysteries
no one explains.

Title: Write a seven-word autobiography right now

• Addicted to simplicity from very first day.
• Ever hopeful, every growing always asking why.
• So many places we haven't seen yet.
• The space around the poem is best.

© 2024 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews