Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Naomi Shihab Nye’s "Coming Soon" captures the paradox of the holiday season—its bright, festive exterior contrasting with a deep sense of loneliness and alienation. The poem, composed in free verse, moves through a series of vignettes, each presenting an image of a world preparing for celebration while simultaneously conveying a detachment from its supposed warmth. The poem's structure, with its fragmented observations and flowing yet restrained movement, mirrors the speaker’s wandering mind as she takes in the city’s December atmosphere.

The opening immediately juxtaposes light and solitude: "Today reminded me of Christmas—bright and utterly lonely." By quoting Coleman Barks, a poet known for translating Rumi, Nye immediately establishes a contemplative tone. The phrase encapsulates the central tension of the poem—how a time associated with togetherness and joy can also magnify personal isolation. The speaker then describes herself stepping hesitantly into darkness: "I placed one toe / in the river of gloom." This cautious engagement with sorrow suggests an awareness of its pull, though she does not yet fully succumb to it.

The cityscape that follows presents a mix of mundane and unsettling images: "On the streets of the cold city / a man with two raw gashes at his temple / fingered them gently." The man’s wounds are both literal and symbolic, emphasizing vulnerability amid the holiday bustle. The scene then shifts to "Middle-aged sisters selling old plates and postcards," who are framed by a gaudy advertisement: "Three Floors of Bargains *** Step Right In!" This contrast between commercial cheer and the subdued demeanor of the sellers reinforces the theme of holiday emptiness. The women are "stared glumly at a large clock," as if waiting for time to pass, embodying a kind of holiday fatigue or resignation.

The poem continues its meandering path through the city, where December’s arrival is marked with small gestures of preparation. A woman "touched up her lipstick. / She could see herself between the 6 and 7." The clock imagery subtly suggests a liminal state—caught between past and future, expectation and memory. Elsewhere, "Sunday-school children ate cookies / shaped like trees." The religious undertone of the cookies, tied to innocence and ritual, contrasts with the mechanical, detached atmosphere of the rest of the poem.

The artificiality of holiday cheer is further emphasized in a brief scene of a waiter decorating his restaurant: "A waiter draped garlands of crumpled greenery / above the door of his restaurant, adjusting the velvet bow." The "crumpled greenery" suggests something less than pristine—perhaps forced or obligatory, much like the seasonal festivities themselves. This moment leads into an encounter with a "toothless woman wearing plastic bags," who asks for the time. The speaker gives her an answer "too enthusiastically," as if overcompensating, attempting to inject warmth into an otherwise indifferent exchange.

As the poem nears its conclusion, the imagery of consumerism and anticipation accelerates: "Here they came again. / Rolls of wrapping paper. / Red letters of ads." The "countdown" of holiday preparation looms, but the speaker is "wasn’t hungry for it," reinforcing her sense of detachment. The final lines return to a deeper existential questioning: "What about our people / on the giant list of loves? / What would we give them / this time around?" Here, the speaker grapples with the emotional weight of giving—beyond material exchanges, what does one truly have to offer? This question lingers, unanswered, as she fully submerges in the gloom she earlier resisted: "I plunged my foot / into the river of gloom, / it said it did not need me." The "river of gloom" personifies sadness as something indifferent, not actively seeking her out but also not rejecting her presence.

"Coming Soon" is a meditation on seasonal melancholy, the dissonance between public festivity and private solitude. The city is alive with holiday preparations, yet the speaker moves through it as an outsider, absorbing the contradictions of the season. Through a blend of detached observation and quiet introspection, Nye presents a holiday scene that feels as much about absence as it is about arrival.

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