Warsan Shire

Warsan shire is a London raised poet/writer and teacher of East African heritage. One of the most intriguing characteristics of her writing is her choice to be a voice for the voiceless. The essence of her work can be described as raw, and touches on hints of nostalgia from the perspective of those who have lost their homes, lives, and national value as a result of war. Despite the fact that she doesn’t have a personal experience with war, post-war trauma, loss, immigration and all the horror tales in between that are experienced by refugees. Her words paint vivid and detailed images of these scenarios.

Each poem sets the tone for a different individual or group’s story, for example the tension that takes place in a house hold falling apart before a child’s eyes as their father walks out (see poem “Backwards”) , the trauma of being “spat” out by home and referring it to as "the mouth of a shark", in this poem it also highlights the particular suffering of the women there who are raped by multiple men at a time amid all the chaos (see poem “Home”), the grief of a mother who loses her child in the very water she escaped to as they desperately sought safety on the other side (see poem “Home, line 22-23”), the loss & lack of value felt by refugees as they chat amid themselves at a deportation center (see poem “conversations about home at the deportation center”) and many more poems to share the stories of this huge portion of the world’s population.

Warsan’s work isn’t something that is exclusive only to east African refugee’s but can also be related to by Syrians or any other group that is or has struggled in the past, present & future. I can’t describe in a short explanation the impact and depth of her work, but what always amazes me is for her to be raised in a developed and peaceful place where it might have been easy for her to forget or feel distant from these horrific experiences yet because of the peace and resources she had she felt the need to not only help these communities but also share their pain, concerns and stories with the world.

Warsan in my eyes for many reasons i can't sum up here without making it an essay is not just an artist but a humanitarian as well as an advocate for gender issues. What i learned from her is to learn about something or someone other than myself, and that something as simple as sharing someone's story can bring a huge impact as it brings awareness to others all across the world thus encouraging them to be involved and aware as well. Another way she inspired me is that being vulnerable is being powerful in it's own way.

some facts about her: Most of her writing stems from experiences of her older family members and their friends who experienced the war as well as various work & volunteer experiences abroad working with refugee camps among other things. Warsan’s work also grabbed the attention of other artists such as Beyonce whom Warsan helped develop the written content for the famous “Lemonade” album touching on many deep topics from various aspects of a woman’s life.

Poem References:

Home - https://genius.com/Warsan-shire-home-annotated

Conversations about home (at a deportation center) https://jackofallbooks.wordpress.com/2015/01/29/warsan-shires-conversations-at-home-at-the-deportation-centre-and-refugees/

Backwards - https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/90734/backwards

Other poems not mentioned about love, abuse & body image:

For women who are difficult to love - https://genius.com/Warsan-shire-for-women-who-are-difficult-to-love-annotated

Ugly- https://www.poetryinternational.org/pi/poem/22839/auto/0/0/Warsan-Shire/UGLY/en/tile

The House- https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-house-40/