Reviews with content warning for Racism - Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head

Warsan Shire has an unparalleled ability to write poems that are beautiful and damning at the same time. Whether she is addressing the ripple effects of intergenerational trauma or celebrating existence, Shire expresses so much in so few words. Her poems about the immigrant experience in this collection ultimately resonate the most. They resonate even moreso than her still-excellent observations on femininity and family dynamics; though the latter topics are those for which Shire is more well known. Anyone who feels that they don't understand why someone would ever leave their country of origin ought to read her poem "Home." I'll leave you with a brief excerpt from that so you can witness Shire's powerful words for yourself:

"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."

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dafni's review

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emotional sad tense fast-paced

5.0

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krys_kilz's review

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dark emotional reflective fast-paced

4.5

Julia Alvarez's review of this collection sums up my feelings: "This fierce and compelling book of poems should come with a warning label: These poems will break your heart."

My favorite poems in the collection were: Assimilation, Home, Midnight in the Foreign Food Aisle, Backwards, Hooyo Isn’t Home, and Bless the Gun Tossed into a River.

"Dear Uncle, is everything you love foreign
or are you foreign to everything you love?"

- from Midnight in the Foreign Food Aisle

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serendipitysbooks's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

4.75

Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head was longlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize. It is the first full length poetry collection by this Somali British poet and reflects the realities of Black Muslim women from immigrant and refugee backgrounds, realities that include both great sorrow and great joy. I found it to a be really accessible collection and was at times blown away by the sheer power of Shire’s words. Home (well-known apparently but new to me) was a standout, succinctly and starkly explaining the reality of the decision to flee home and of being a refugee. Plenty of imagery from other poems grabbed my attention too - “…Amel’s hardened nipples push/through the paisley of her blouse, minarets/
calling men to worship.” Highly recommended, especially if you are looking for an accessible relevant contemporary collection.

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jaiari12's review against another edition

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dark emotional fast-paced

5.0

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madanxiety's review against another edition

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reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

The one that stood out to me the most was I think called backwards? It was about re-writing one's life. Audiobooks don't always have an accurate table of contents, particularly with poems, but I really appreciated the rhythm or sound of that poem. I also didn't realized until I got to it that Shire is the author of the poem Beyoncé referenced in her visual album, Lemonade.

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