One Boy Told Me
Hummingbird Featured Poem. One Boy Told Me.
By Naomi Shihab Nye.
Music lives inside my legs.
It’s coming out when I talk.
I’m going to send my valentines
to people you don’t even know.
Oatmeal cookies make my throat gallop.
Grown-ups keep their feet on the ground
when they swing. I hate that.
Look at those 2 o’s with a smash in the middle––
that spells good-bye.
Don’t ever say “purpose” again,
let’s throw the word out.
Don’t talk big to me.
I’m carrying my box of faces.
If I want to change faces I will.
Yesterday faded
But tomorrow’s in BOLDFACE.
When I grow up my old names
will live in the house
where we live now.
I’ll come and visit them.
Only one of my eyes is tired.
The other eye and my body aren’t.
Is it true all metal was liquid first?
Does that mean if we bought our car earlier
they could have served it
in a cup?
There’s a stopper in my arm
that’s not going to let me grow any bigger.
I’ll be like this always, small.
And I will be deep water too.
Wait. Just wait. How deep is the river?
Would it cover the tallest man with his hands in the air?
Your head is a souvenir.
When you were in New York I could see you
in real life walking in my mind.
I’ll invite a bee to live in your shoe.
What if you found your shoe
full of honey?
What if the clock said 6:92
instead of 6:30? Would you be scared?
My tongue is the car wash
for the spoon.
Can noodles swim?
My toes are dictionaries.
Do you need any words?
From now on I’ll only drink white milk on January 26.
What does minus mean?
I never want to minus you.
Just think––no one has ever seen
inside this peanut before!
It is hard being a person.
I do and don’t love you––
isn’t that happiness?
Copyright © 1998 by Naomi Shihab Nye
Editor’s Note: Naomi Shihab Nye’s “One Boy Told Me” is our Hummingbird Featured Poem for the perspective presented by this “free verse” collection of a child’s quotes. Through this unusual and playful poetic device, the joy, curiosity, and attempt to “make sense of things” is communicated. It brings with it a sense of innocence and purity of thought that feels lighthearted, smart and true.
Naomi Shihab Nye’s career spans 40 years during which she has published multiple poetry collections, essays, and fiction for both adults and children. Naomi Shihab Nye was a Lannan Fellow, a Guggenheim Fellow, and a Witter Bynner Fellow (Library of Congress). She has also been the recipient of many awards and prizes including the 2024 Texas Writer Award and the 2024 Wallace Stevens Award. In 2021 she was voted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. (Bio Credit: SBA The Steven Barclay Agency, Inc.)
