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168 Wandering around the Albuquerque Airport Terminal, after learning my flight had been delayed four hours, I heard an announcement: %u201cIf anyone in the vicinity of Gate A-4 understands any Arabic, please come to the gate immediately.%u201d Well %u2014 one pauses these days. Gate A-4 was my own gate. I went there. An older woman in full traditional Palestinian embroidered dress, just like my grandma wore, was crumpled to the floor, wailing. %u201cHelp,%u201d said the flight agent. %u201cTalk to her. What is her problem? We told her the flight was going to be late and she did this.%u201d I stooped to put my arm around the woman and spoke haltingly. %u201cShu-dow-a, Shu-bid-uck Habibti? Stani schway, Min fadlick, Shubit-se-wee?%u201d The minute she heard any words she knew, however poorly 510TalkBack Gate A-4 Naomi Shihab NyeGeorge W. Bush Poet, novelist, editor, and political activist Naomi Shihab Nye (b. 1952) is the daughter of a Palestinian father and an American mother. Nye grew up in St. Louis, Missouri, earned a BA in English and world religions from Trinity University, and currently lives in San Antonio, Texas. Her works for children include the picture book Sitti%u2019s Secret (1994) and the novel Habibi (1996). Her poetry collections include Different Ways to Pray (1980), 19 Varieties of Gazelle: Poems of the Middle East (2002), and Transfer (2011). She has won many awards and fellowships, including four Pushcart Prizes (for best work from small presses), the Jane Addams Children%u2019s Book Award, and the Isabella Gardner Poetry Award. Nye, who has been a visiting writer all over the world, describes herself as %u201ca wandering poet.%u201d KEY CONTEXT Written only a few years after 9/11, this poem pushes back against the distrust that developed following the attacks. Roberto Ricciuti/Getty ImagesNaomi Shihab NyeCopyright %u00a9 Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers. Distributed by Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers. For review purposes only. Not for redistribution.