To get to know this poet and the humanitarian spirit of her writing, start with her poem, "Kindness." It begins:

"Before you know what kindness really is
you must lose things,
feel the future dissolve in a moment
like salt in a weakened broth.
What you held in your hand,
what you counted and carefully saved,
all this must go so you know
how desolate the landscape can be
between the regions of kindness. ..."

Naomi Shihab Nye was born in 1952 in St. Louis, Missouri. Her father was a Palestinian refugee and her mother was American. After the Sept. 11 terrorism attacks, Nye became a voice for Arab Americans, speaking out against both terrorism and prejudice. She writes about ordinary people and objects across cultures, showing the universal concerns and hopes that all people share. Along with her poetry, Nye is a children's author, known for her keen sensitivity and cultural awareness, as in the book Sitti’s Secrets (1994) about an Arab American child’s relationship with her grandmother. Nye is the recipient of many honors and awards for her work, including the Ivan Sandrof Award for Lifetime Achievement from the National Book Critics Circle, the Isabella Gardner Poetry Award, and many Pushcart Prizes. She lives in San Antonio, Texas.

Biography: https://poets.org/poet/naomi-shihab-nye
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/naomi-shihab-nye
Poetry:
Kindness: https://poets.org/poem/kindness
Kindness by Naomi Shihab Nye, a poetry film by Ana Perez Lopez: https://youtu.be/xFLQOOiAqxQ
Goats: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/58630/300-goats
Two Countries: https://poets.org/poem/two-countries