Making A Fist

Naomi Nye is an American poet born to a Palestinian father and an American mother. She was born and lived in St. Louis, Missouri as well as the West Bank of Palestine, and her poem "Making A Fist" is a short story about her life being the daughter of a Palestinian refugee. The poem takes place on a long car ride through Tampico and is about how Nye felt like she was going to die. After having a strong pain in her stomach Nye asks her mother how someone knows when they are going to die, and her mother replies that it is when they can no longer make a fist. Nye's poem comes from her as an adult and was most likely written after the death of her mother. This poem takes place when she was 7 and is probably the first time she can recall being close to death or thinking about death. I do not know what the intended audience for this poem is. It could be for people who have recently experienced a loss or it could also be for immigrants in a new country. Personally, I think "Making a Fist" is for all audiences and is meant for the reader to think back in their own life to an early memory when they were with their family.