Salt

Last night I finished a reading project that has taken almost a year, reading the first book of poems -- Salt -- by a writer I see as very talented, Nayyirah Waheed. The book is about 250 pages of single-page poems, most of them are only a few lines, but they usually get from me a heavy pause and I can't read too many at a time. And I've been returning to the ones I've liked a few times as well.

I think the way I would describe her to a friend -- and to re-work some borrowed words from an anonymous source -- is that her work shows uncommon emotional brilliance when it pushes further out, past the political shallows.

I found 46 of her 249 poems to be what I thought were well-made and resonated with me.

Of those 46, seven of them were of such high quality that I consider them personally important and worth memorizing. I expect to return to them periodically for the rest of my life.

I copy them here.

=====

flower work

is

not easy.

remaining

soft in fire

takes

time.

(12)

=====

she asked

'you are in love

what does love look like'

to which i replied

'like everything i've ever lost

come back to me.'

(16)

=====

if we must

both

be right.

we will

lose

each other.

-- exile

(40)

=====

if you deserve

honey

mine will flow from my arms to yours

no effort, no asking.

but, if there is none

and

you feel wind instead.

know

that my spirit already

senses that

when you smell sweetness

you

begin harvesting blades in your hands.

-- kindness is a form of intelligence

(72)

=====

you will find your way.

it is

in the

same place

as

your love.

--- seek

(126)

=====

knowing your power

is what creates

humility.

not knowing your power

is what creates

insecurity.

-- ego

(196)

=====

it was

i

who held you.

when

you

wanted

someone else.

-- treason

(244)

=====

And the other 39 are:

3, 10, 15, 17, 20, 23, 29, 33, 42, 45, 
47, 50, 64, 73, 74, 84, 97, 102, 105, 112,
119, 133, 136, 142, 151, 154, 159, 162, 169, 190
203, 217, 226, 227, 232, 233, 238, 240, 248