Every Day as Wide as a Field | Naomi Shihab Nye

IPM Team
Jul 18
1 min read

Updated: Jul 28

A photo of the woods at night with little blips of light along the forest floor illuminating the moss and leaf covered ground. Overlayed is a poem by Naomi Shihab Nye titled Every Day as Wide as a Field. The poem reads: 1. // Standing outside / staring at a tree / gentles our eyes // We cheer / to see fireflies / winking again // Where have our friends been / all the long hours? / Minds stretching // beyond the field / become / their own skies // Windows doors / grow more / important // Look through a word / swing that sentence / wide open // Kneeling outside / to find / sturdy green // glistening blossoms / under the breeze / that carries us silently // 2. // And there were so many more poems to read! / Countless friends to listen to. / We didn't have to be in the same room-- / the great modern magic. / Everywhere together now. / Even scared together now / from all points of the globe / which lessened it somehow. / Hopeful together too, exchanging / winks in the dark, the little lights blinking. / When your hope shrinks / you might feel the hope of / someone far away lifting you up. / Hope is the thing... / Hope was always the thing! / What else did we give each other / from such distances? / Breath of syllables, / sing to me from your balcony / please! Befriend me / in the deep space. / When you paused for a poem / it could reshape the day / you had just been living.

If a line or phrase resonates with you,

we invite you to use it as a starting point to create your own poem.

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This poem was included in IPM's July 2025 Newsletter.

Access the full Newsletter here.

1 Comment

catheycapers

Jul 27

Thank you for bringing Naomi's words during this horrifying time for Palestinians. I often think of her and her work that brought/brings us so many voices of this land and culture. Her message in this poem to me of enduring hope and connection, the deep prayer of "together" and "Everywhere"so powerful, so needed.