\nhttps:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/David_Grubin<\/a><\/p>\n
****
\n****<\/p>\n
David Gruben, TV producer\/director with whom I\u2019ve had the grace to work as a\u00a0\u201ctalking head\u201d on several American Experience films – –\u00a0\u201cAmerica 1900\u201d &\u00a0\u201cTesla\u201d (2016) – –\u00a0emailed the other day asking if I was familiar with\u00a0\u201cGate A-4.\u201d \u00a0 \u00a0He\u2019d read\u00a0several Naomi Shihab Nye\u2019s poems on the\u00a0\u201cWork Day in Hard Times\u201d poetry list and wondered if I\u2019d seen her extraordinary short story about a frightened and confused airline passenger in Albuquerque\u2019s airport. (She spoke Arabic; the terminal workers couldn\u2019t understand her nor make themselves understood.) \u00a0Then a human magic happened. \u00a0David is right; the Naomi\u2019s story helps the reader to take heart in these frightening times. \u00a0It\u2019s not a poem, however, this brilliant poet wrote the story in gripping prose so you may find it hard to read as a poem (i.e.,\u00a0\u201cread slowly, several times, with pauses\u201d) but I\u2019ll bet\u00a0\u201cGate A-4\u201d stays with you all this weekend.<\/p>\n
p.s. Turns out we had posted Gate A-4 once before, Wednesday before Thanksgiving 2016. \u00a0A-4 knocked me flat then, \u00a0knocks me flat again this week.<\/p>\n
Have a blest weekend,<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
John sj<\/p>\n
Today\u2019s Post: \u00a0\u00a0\u201cGate A-4\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n Wandering around the Albuquerque Airport Terminal, after learning Well\u2014one pauses these days. Gate A-4 was my own gate. I went there.<\/p>\n An older woman in full traditional Palestinian embroidered dress, just I stooped to put my arm around the woman and spoke haltingly. We called her son, I spoke with him in English. I told him I would She was laughing a lot by then. Telling of her life, patting my knee, And then the airline broke out free apple juice from huge coolers and two And I looked around that gate of late and weary ones and I thought, This This can still happen anywhere. Not everything is lost.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Naomi Shihab Nye From\u00a0Honeybee<\/em>. Copyright \u00a9 2008 by Naomi Shihab Nye. Friday, March 27, 2020 \u201cDear John, Here\u2019s one from Naomi Shihab Nye. I know you\u2019ve posted her poems before, but don\u2019t know if you have seen this one, so just in case, take heart from Naomi at Gate A-4. David\u201d … Continue reading
\nmy flight had been delayed four hours, I heard an announcement:
\n“If anyone in the vicinity of Gate A-4 understands any Arabic, please
\ncome to the gate immediately.”<\/p>\n
\nlike my grandma wore, was crumpled to the floor, wailing. “Help,”
\nsaid the flight agent. “Talk to her. What is her problem? We
\ntold her the flight was going to be late and she did this.”<\/p>\n
\n“Shu-dow-a, Shu-bid-uck Habibti? Stani schway, Min fadlick, Shu-bit-
\nse-wee?” The minute she heard any words she knew, however poorly
\nused, she stopped crying. She thought the flight had been cancelled
\nentirely. She needed to be in El Paso for major medical treatment the
\nnext day. I said, “No, we’re fine, you’ll get there, just later, who is
\npicking you up? Let’s call him.”<\/p>\n
\nstay with his mother till we got on the plane and ride next to
\nher. She talked to him. Then we called her other sons just
\nfor the fun of it. Then we called my dad and he and she spoke for a while
\nin Arabic and found out of course they had ten shared friends. Then I
\nthought just for the heck of it why not call some Palestinian poets I know
\nand let them chat with her? This all took up two hours.<\/p>\n
\nanswering questions. She had pulled a sack of homemade\u00a0mamool<\/em>
\ncookies\u2014little powdered sugar crumbly mounds stuffed with dates and
\nnuts\u2014from her bag\u2014and was offering them to all the women at the gate.
\nTo my amazement, not a single woman declined one. It was like a
\nsacrament. The traveler from Argentina, the mom from California, the
\nlovely woman from Laredo\u2014we were all covered with the same powdered
\nsugar. And smiling. There is no better cookie.<\/p>\n
\nlittle girls from our flight ran around serving it and they
\nwere covered with powdered sugar, too. And I noticed my new best friend\u2014
\nby now we were holding hands\u2014had a potted plant poking out of her bag,
\nsome medicinal thing, with green furry leaves. Such an old country tradi-
\ntion. Always carry a plant. Always stay rooted to somewhere.<\/p>\n
\nis the world I want to live in. The shared world. Not a single person in that
\ngate\u2014once the crying of confusion stopped\u2014seemed apprehensive about
\nany other person. They took the cookies. I wanted to hug all those other\u00a0women, too.<\/p>\n
\nMarch 12, 1952<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/170\/2016\/11\/Naomi-Shihab-Nye.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n
\nNaomi Shihab Nye\u00a0reading\u00a0\u201cGate A-4\u2033<\/a>
\nhttps:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Naomi_Shihab_Nye<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"