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A review by badgalnat
Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head by Warsan Shire
5.0
5 stars! Wow. I think I will carry some of these poems with me for the rest of my life.
★ 6 STAR POEMS ★
HOME
“I want to go home, but home is the mouth of a shark. Home is the barrel of a gun. 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.”
BLESS MAYMUUN’S MIND
Realising the dream of moving to a Western country can be a deathly lonely experience.
SAINT HOOYO
Gosh this one.
“I don’t recognize my own children
they speak and dream in the wrong language
as much as I understand
it may as well be the language of birds.”
BLESS THE REAL HOUSEWIFE
“Blessed be those who sit and wait
so hooyo sits, waiting for him to die.
Calcifying her one human body, staying
for the sake of the kids, then staying
for the sake of staying, enduring,
abstaining, waiting for the angel of death.
…
I ask, What if you die while you’re waiting?”
BLESS THIS HOUSE
One of those poems that sticks with you for a very long time.
“Mother says there are locked rooms inside all women.
Sometimes, the men—they come with keys,
and sometimes, the men—they come with hammers.”
ANGELA BASSETT BURNING IT ALL DOWN
Speechless.
“Mother did not snap, instead she stretched, watching yeast
ferment,
instead she busied herself with the process of preserving meat.
For years I’ve watched from the corner of my eye,
willing her to burn it all down.”
✩ RUNNER UPS ✩
MIDNIGHT IN THE FOREIGN FOOD AISLE
UNBEARABLE WEIGHT OF STAYING
BACKWARDS (I’m dying to read some in depth analysis on this one!!)
BLESS THE MOON
TRICHOTILLOMANIA
EARTH TO YOSRA
VICTORIA IN ILLIYIN
GRIEF HAS ITS BLUE HANDS IN MY HAIR
★ 6 STAR POEMS ★
HOME
“I want to go home, but home is the mouth of a shark. Home is the barrel of a gun. 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.”
BLESS MAYMUUN’S MIND
Realising the dream of moving to a Western country can be a deathly lonely experience.
SAINT HOOYO
Gosh this one.
“I don’t recognize my own children
they speak and dream in the wrong language
as much as I understand
it may as well be the language of birds.”
BLESS THE REAL HOUSEWIFE
“Blessed be those who sit and wait
so hooyo sits, waiting for him to die.
Calcifying her one human body, staying
for the sake of the kids, then staying
for the sake of staying, enduring,
abstaining, waiting for the angel of death.
…
I ask, What if you die while you’re waiting?”
BLESS THIS HOUSE
One of those poems that sticks with you for a very long time.
“Mother says there are locked rooms inside all women.
Sometimes, the men—they come with keys,
and sometimes, the men—they come with hammers.”
ANGELA BASSETT BURNING IT ALL DOWN
Speechless.
“Mother did not snap, instead she stretched, watching yeast
ferment,
instead she busied herself with the process of preserving meat.
For years I’ve watched from the corner of my eye,
willing her to burn it all down.”
✩ RUNNER UPS ✩
MIDNIGHT IN THE FOREIGN FOOD AISLE
UNBEARABLE WEIGHT OF STAYING
BACKWARDS (I’m dying to read some in depth analysis on this one!!)
BLESS THE MOON
TRICHOTILLOMANIA
EARTH TO YOSRA
VICTORIA IN ILLIYIN
GRIEF HAS ITS BLUE HANDS IN MY HAIR