Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head, Warsan Shire

backwards - warsan shire

— Warsan Shire, from “Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head.”

[Text ID: 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.]

warsan shire

The refugee's heart often grows an outer layer. An assimilation. It cocoons the organ. Those unable to grow the extra skin die within the first six months in a host country.

Warsan Shire, Assimilation

Warsan Shire, Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head, "Extreme Girlhood"

I am the sin of memory and the absence of memory.

Warsan Shire, “Home” from Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head

So few will want to lay down / and watch the world burn / from their bedroom.

— Warsan Shire, from “Bless Your Ugly Daughter,” Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head

— Warsan Shire, What Doesn't Kill You; Home I

excerpts from: Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head

Backwards from Bless The Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head by Warsan Shire

...a tongue of prolonged grief.

Warsan Shire, Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head; “Bless the Gun Tossed into a River”

Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head, Warsan Shire

"While you wash your body you realize it is not your body. And at the same time, it is the only body you have."

Warsan Shire, Hooyo Isn't Home, "Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head"

Mother says there are locked rooms inside all women. Sometimes, the men—they come with keys, and sometimes, the men—they come with hammers.

Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head: Poems by Warsan Shire

I'll rewrite this whole life, and this time, there'll be so much love, you won't be able to see beyond it.

Warsan Shire, Bless The Daughter Raised By A Voice In Her Head

I'll rewrite this whole life and this time there'll be so much love, you won't be able to see beyond it.

Warsan Shire, Backwards