Let Us Now Praise Ordinary Things

"Nearly everyone I know, when asked what they'll miss when they leave this world, has a list. On mine is Kareem Tayyar's latest collection, "Let Us Now Praise Ordinary Things," which is so full of loveliness and hope and beauty it makes me wish the world and everything and everyone in it immortal. This collection - in the spirit of Pablo Neruda, Rumi, and that beloved chronicler of ordinary things, Amy Krause Rosenthal, who left this earth way too soon - celebrates everything from talking to houseplants, to singing in the shower, to late-night drive-throughs and hippies with "hearts as wide as their bell bottom jeans." Open to any work in this wonderful collection and I promise you'll find a golden tether to this life. Especially beautiful are Tayyar's meditations on teaching and students, who, he writes in "On Teaching," are "the ones who soon enough will set about beautifying the world in ways I cannot even begin to imagine." I could not even begin to imagine a collection this full of life and joy. Praise Kareem Tayyar, who gives us his heart and voice at a time when it feels more urgent than ever." - Lori Jakiela, Author of "Belief Is Its Own Kind of Truth, Maybe"