Famous
By Naomi Shihab Nye
The river is famous to the fish.
The loud voice is famous to silence,
which knew it would inherit the earth
before anybody said so.
The cat sleeping on the fence is famous to the birds
watching him from the birdhouse.
The tear is famous, briefly, to the cheek.
The idea you carry close to your bosom
is famous to your bosom.
The boot is famous to the earth,
more famous than the dress shoe,
which is famous only to floors.
The bent photograph is famous to the one who carries it
and not at all famous to the one who is pictured.
I want to be famous to shuffling men
who smile while crossing streets,
sticky children in grocery lines,
famous as the one who smiled back.
I want to be famous in the way a pulley is famous,
or a buttonhole, not because it did anything spectacular,
but because it never forgot what it could do.
“Famous” from Words Under the Words: Selected Poems (Portland, Oregon: Far Corner Books, 1995). Copyright © 1995 by Naomi Shihab Nye.
I think that’s a resolution of sorts, right there: Buttonholes, pulleys, tacks: small jobs being done accurately and consistently — with little fanfare. Never forget what you know how to do.
That’s quite a thing – never forgetting your “self” – and is something which I often kick myself about, afterwards, when I realize that I’ve been being silly, forgetting that I am an adult, or that I have talent, or that I am intelligent.
Doing a thing once … yeah, whatever. Never forgetting what you can do … that’s the thing.
That’s quite a thing – never forgetting your “self” – and is something which I often kick myself about, afterwards, when I realize that I’ve been being silly, forgetting that I am an adult, or that I have talent, or that I am intelligent.Doing a thing once … yeah, whatever. Never forgetting what you can do … that’s the thing.
That’s quite a thing – never forgetting your “self” – and is something which I often kick myself about, afterwards, when I realize that I’ve been being silly, forgetting that I am an adult, or that I have talent, or that I am intelligent.
Doing a thing once … yeah, whatever. Never forgetting what you can do … that’s the thing.