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I probably first heard about Warsan Shire like a good many other people did, from Beyoncé’s Lemonade. I had to wait a couple of months for my turn to come around for Teaching My Mother How to Give Birth. Imagine that, a holds queue for a poetry book! It was definitely worth the wait.
Published in 2011, Teaching My Mother How to Give Birth is a slim chapbook of only 34 pages. It is one of those books that, while small, packs a mighty punch. The poems are about love and sex, betrayal and violence. There is pain and fear and struggle and hope. The poems often took my breath away. The language is rhythmic without being rhymed, lyrical but grounded.
Shire is Somali, born in Kenya and now living in London. Her poems speak of the black female experience, the immigrant and refugee experience, and sometimes a Muslim experience. Always the poems are about relationships between people, society, with oneself.
One of the gentler poems I liked very much is called “Grandfather’s Hands.” It begins with Grandfather and Grandmother drawing and naming parts of themselves and each other,
Your Grandmother kissed each knuckle,
circled an island into his palm
and told him which parts they would share,
which part they would leave alone.
And it concludes:
Your grandparents often found themselves
in dark rooms, mapping out
each other’s bodies,claiming whole countries
with their mouths.
That one gives me shivers of pleasure.
But then there is “Questions for Miriam” that ends
You were a city
exiled from skin, your mouth a burning church.
And from the heartbreaking “Conversations About Home (at the Deportation Center)”
They ask me how did you get here? Can’t you see it on my body? The Libyan desert red with immigrant bodies, the gulf of Aden bloated , the city of Rome with no jacket. I hope the journey meant more than miles because all of my children are in the water. I thought the sea was safer than the land.
But there is beauty in the midst of ugliness, from “Ugly”
Your daughter’s face is a small riot,
her hands are a civil war,
a refugee camp behind each ear,
a body littered with ugly things.But God,
doesn’t she wear
the world well?
Oddly, or maybe not, while I read the poems I often imagined them in Beyoncé’s voice, low and husky. This also made me read them slowly, a good thing because they would otherwise be so easy to rush through.
The New York Times has an article about Shire, her career so far (she is only 27!), how surprised friends were about the collaboration (she didn’t tell them). Not many poets get thrust into popular culture like this and Shire seems to want to keep a low profile. Her poetry deserves the attention. Hopefully her sudden fame does not cause a negative impact. I will be looking forward to seeing what she does in the future.
Some good lines. And what a title!
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Jeanne, the title is definitely a good one!
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Loved this– I reviewed it a couple months back. She has so much talent, especially for being so young. Next, you have to read Salt., by Nayyirah Waheed!
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Brown books, I was surprised to learn how young she is. I look forward to following her career. Thanks for the recommendation! My library has salt and there is a hold queue for it! So exciting to know people are reading poetry!
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Could you explain to me what exactly is a chapbook Stefanie? I came across the word before, is it a small collection of poems? What would be a fitting synonym?
The lines you selected are quite impressive, asking for more.
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Cath, yes, a chapbook is a small collection of poems. The book is generally less than 30 pages. Sometimes it is called a pamphlet. They are generally produced by small presses (and sometimes the author) and most of the time have small print runs.
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I want to read this too. And it’s very exciting that there is a waiting list for poetry! Hurrah!
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MarianSofia, a waiting list for poetry makes me happy 🙂
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I love a waiting list for a collection of poetry. Our library system doesn’t have this, sadly, so I’ll have to interlibrary loan request it.
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Laila, definitely worth an ILL! 🙂
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A new poetry find–how exciting! Do you think it is thanks to Beyonce that the book created a library line? Very cool indeed to create such a bookish temptation!
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Danielle, I suspect Beyonce had a lot to do with the hold queue, at least the length of it.
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What a talented poet. I love the title.
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A.M.B., she is very talented and so young so hopefully there are great things ahead for her. It is a most excellent title.
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Extremely powerful words! And I like the fact that despite 27, she wants to keep a low profile….in a media crazed world, she is like a refreshing creature
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How wonderful to see a chapbook of poetry getting this sort of attention. Shire’s work shows that poetry need not be condemned to being marginalised and irrelevant.
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Ian, I agree on both counts. Her voice is a fresh and exciting and I hope it goes some way into energizing the genre a bit.
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cirtnecce, I was surprised to learn she didn’t even tell her friends. I don’t think I could keep that kind of thing a secret! that she did is, as you say, refreshing.
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“Doesn’t she wear the world well?” is such a good line. I don’t read a ton of poetry, but I’ll definitely keep an eye out for Shire’s full-length collection when it comes out.
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Jenny, I love that line too! Definitely, if you ever get a chance to read Shire, she is worth the diversion from fiction 🙂
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I can’t believe it, but my library actually has this one. I’ll add it to my hold list.
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Grad, woo hoo! I hope you like it!
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