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4.19 AVERAGE
4.19 AVERAGE
dark
fast-paced
This was an excellent poetry book. It's heartfelt, tender and sharp.
Warsan Shire as sublime as always. Every word of hers really dives into your soul. And heals you. And opens wounds. And closes them again.
I can’t really rate this book. I lack the knowledge/ experience and don’t have the right. No wonder the author worked with Beyoncé and has been profiled in Vogue, the first Young Poet Laureate of London, poet-in-residence of Queensland, Australia, elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Her poetry is raw, full of struggles I have no experience with, but can only witness with silent respect- the refugee challenges and uncertainties and robbing of dignity, e.g.
“The flashlight taps the window.” What a completely fearful different experience that line means beyond my safe life.
“No one leaves home unless home is the mouth of a shark”. Again.
Her poem Backwards cuts to the bone: “I’ll rewrite this whole life & this time there’ll be so much love, you won’t be able to see beyond it.”
Her poetry makes me feel, opens my eyes.
“The flashlight taps the window.” What a completely fearful different experience that line means beyond my safe life.
“No one leaves home unless home is the mouth of a shark”. Again.
Her poem Backwards cuts to the bone: “I’ll rewrite this whole life & this time there’ll be so much love, you won’t be able to see beyond it.”
Her poetry makes me feel, opens my eyes.
“At each and every checkpoint the refugee is asked are you human? The refugee is sure it’s still human but worries that overnight, while it slept, there may have been a change in classification.”
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
"No one would leave home unless home chased you to the shore. No one would leave home until home is a voice in your ear saying—leave, run, now. I don't know what I've become."
4.5 ✨
Warsan Shire's poetry collection Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head was not easy to read but it should be considered essential reading. The included poems deal with the experiences of refugees and immigrants, especially women, as well as loss, trauma, racism, and xenophobia.
My favorite poems were:
- Home
- Bless Your Ugly Daughter
- Backwards
- Bless This House
"Your daughter's face is a small riot,
her hands are a civil war,
she has a refugee camp tucked
behind each ear, her body is a body littered
with ugly things
but God,
doesn't she wear
the world well."
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC in exchange for my honest review.
4.5 ✨
Warsan Shire's poetry collection Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head was not easy to read but it should be considered essential reading. The included poems deal with the experiences of refugees and immigrants, especially women, as well as loss, trauma, racism, and xenophobia.
My favorite poems were:
- Home
- Bless Your Ugly Daughter
- Backwards
- Bless This House
"Your daughter's face is a small riot,
her hands are a civil war,
she has a refugee camp tucked
behind each ear, her body is a body littered
with ugly things
but God,
doesn't she wear
the world well."
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC in exchange for my honest review.
a beautiful collection on migration, motherhood, daughters, trauma, and more.