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A review by decodethebooks
Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head by Warsan Shire
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.5
This is a beautifully written poetry collection from the lens of a Somali refugee, with religious and cultural pressures, through trials of girlhood and womanhood and the journey of healing from traumas.
a few quotes from the poems that I like:
from Extreme Girlhood*
- "A loop, a girl born
to each family
prelude to suffering."”
- "Everything you did to me,
I remember."
- "Mama I made it
out of your home
alive, raised by
the voices in my head."
from Assimilation*
- “we never unpacked”
- “unable to excise the refugee from our hearts”
- “I can’t get the refugee out of my body”
- “at each and every checkpoint the refugee is asked
are you human?
The refugee is sure it’s still human
but worries that overnight,
while it slept, there may have been
a change in classification.”
from Loneliness is Killing Me
- “tonight no one knows you”
- “Cidlada ka atkow, Abti—be
stronger than your loneliness"
- “He sings along. Alone this time,
alone every time.”
from Home*
- “You only leave home when home
won’t let you stay”
- “No one would leave home unless
home chased you.”
- “The insults are easier to swallow than finding
your child’s body in the rubble.”
- “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.”
- “I don’t know where I am going. Where I came
from is disappearing. I am unwelcome. My
beauty is not beauty here.”
from Bless Maymunn’s Mind
- “She imagines she will die here, alone, far
from home.”
- “how proud they are, how all their hopes
depend on her, how walahi, all their dreams
lie at her feet.”
from Drowning in Dawson’s Creek
- “I was willing to disown myself.”
from Bless the Qumayo
- “verily your life is brimming
with sorrow, we’ve witnessed
love slowly abandon you, still,
we pray you find healing, bitch.”
from Bless Your Ugly Daughter
- “As an infant forced to gargle rosewater,
smoked in uunsi to purify her of
whatever
unclean thing she inherited.”
- “she has a refugee camp tucked
behind each ear, her body is a body
littered
with ugly things”
from Midnight in the Foreign Food Aisle
-“Dear Uncle, is everything you love
foreign
or are you foreign to everything you
love?”
from Photographs of Hooyo
(Harlesden, 1990-2000)
-“names of the dead thrown behind her
like salt”
from Hooyo Full of Grace
- “Your girlhood an incubation for
madness.”
from Hooyo*e
- “I don’t recognise 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”
from Backwards
- “I can make us loved, just say the word.”
- “Maybe we’re okay, kid?”
- “I’ll rewrite this whole life and this time
there’ll so much love,
you won’t be able to see beyond it.”
from Hooyoo Isn’t Home
After Idra Novey
- “When the body remembers, it bucks
widely,”
- “While you wash your body you realise it
is not your body.
And at the same time, it is the only body
you have.”
from The Abubakr Girls Are Different*
- “Daughter is synonymous with traitor”
from Bless Hooyoo’s Kohl Rimmed Eyes
- “Allah guiding her
hand
steady as the dead.”
from Bless the Sharmuto
- “our mother has banned her from saying
God’s name.”
from Buraanbur
- “The women
form a tighter circle around her flailing body,
clapping until something comes loose, comes
undone, until something makes itself known.”
- “The women chant ii kacay, dhiigaa ii kacay,
it’s rising, the blood is rising. Bless the
catheter sting of womanhood.”
from To Swim with God*
-“Inna lillahi Wa inna ilayhi Rajioon
Hooyo says no one can fight it—
the body returning to God,
if it must, your body will leave without
you.”
translation: Inna lillahi Wa inna ilayhi Rajioon - To God we belong, to God we return.
from Bless Grace Jones
- “from you, we are learning
to put ourselves first.”
* the poems with asterisks are my favourite ones
*the poems with asterisks are my favourite ones -
(would put the entire poem in this review if it wasn’t theft just to show everyone the beauty and importance of the entire thing.)
other favourites (that were not quoted above):
- Filial Cannibalism
- Bless the Camels
- Unbearable Weight of Staying
- My Father, the Astronaut
- Bless the Real Housewife
- The Abubakr Girls Are Different
- Bless This House
- Earth to Yosra
- Victoria in Illiyin
- Bless the Gun Tossed into a River - After ‘Freedom of Love’ by Andre Breton
Would I recommend this book??
Yes, I would recommend this beautiful poetry book.
Will I re-read this book?
Will I re-read this book?
I would re-read this, yes.
I read this from my electronic library, but I would love a physical copy of my own.
a few quotes from the poems that I like:
from Extreme Girlhood*
- "A loop, a girl born
to each family
prelude to suffering."”
- "Everything you did to me,
I remember."
- "Mama I made it
out of your home
alive, raised by
the voices in my head."
from Assimilation*
- “we never unpacked”
- “unable to excise the refugee from our hearts”
- “I can’t get the refugee out of my body”
- “at each and every checkpoint the refugee is asked
are you human?
The refugee is sure it’s still human
but worries that overnight,
while it slept, there may have been
a change in classification.”
from Loneliness is Killing Me
- “tonight no one knows you”
- “Cidlada ka atkow, Abti—be
stronger than your loneliness"
- “He sings along. Alone this time,
alone every time.”
from Home*
- “You only leave home when home
won’t let you stay”
- “No one would leave home unless
home chased you.”
- “The insults are easier to swallow than finding
your child’s body in the rubble.”
- “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.”
- “I don’t know where I am going. Where I came
from is disappearing. I am unwelcome. My
beauty is not beauty here.”
from Bless Maymunn’s Mind
- “She imagines she will die here, alone, far
from home.”
- “how proud they are, how all their hopes
depend on her, how walahi, all their dreams
lie at her feet.”
from Drowning in Dawson’s Creek
- “I was willing to disown myself.”
from Bless the Qumayo
- “verily your life is brimming
with sorrow, we’ve witnessed
love slowly abandon you, still,
we pray you find healing, bitch.”
from Bless Your Ugly Daughter
- “As an infant forced to gargle rosewater,
smoked in uunsi to purify her of
whatever
unclean thing she inherited.”
- “she has a refugee camp tucked
behind each ear, her body is a body
littered
with ugly things”
from Midnight in the Foreign Food Aisle
-“Dear Uncle, is everything you love
foreign
or are you foreign to everything you
love?”
from Photographs of Hooyo
(Harlesden, 1990-2000)
-“names of the dead thrown behind her
like salt”
from Hooyo Full of Grace
- “Your girlhood an incubation for
madness.”
from Hooyo*e
- “I don’t recognise 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”
from Backwards
- “I can make us loved, just say the word.”
- “Maybe we’re okay, kid?”
- “I’ll rewrite this whole life and this time
there’ll so much love,
you won’t be able to see beyond it.”
from Hooyoo Isn’t Home
After Idra Novey
- “When the body remembers, it bucks
widely,”
- “While you wash your body you realise it
is not your body.
And at the same time, it is the only body
you have.”
from The Abubakr Girls Are Different*
- “Daughter is synonymous with traitor”
from Bless Hooyoo’s Kohl Rimmed Eyes
- “Allah guiding her
hand
steady as the dead.”
from Bless the Sharmuto
- “our mother has banned her from saying
God’s name.”
from Buraanbur
- “The women
form a tighter circle around her flailing body,
clapping until something comes loose, comes
undone, until something makes itself known.”
- “The women chant ii kacay, dhiigaa ii kacay,
it’s rising, the blood is rising. Bless the
catheter sting of womanhood.”
from To Swim with God*
-“Inna lillahi Wa inna ilayhi Rajioon
Hooyo says no one can fight it—
the body returning to God,
if it must, your body will leave without
you.”
translation: Inna lillahi Wa inna ilayhi Rajioon - To God we belong, to God we return.
from Bless Grace Jones
- “from you, we are learning
to put ourselves first.”
* the poems with asterisks are my favourite ones
*the poems with asterisks are my favourite ones -
(would put the entire poem in this review if it wasn’t theft just to show everyone the beauty and importance of the entire thing.)
other favourites (that were not quoted above):
- Filial Cannibalism
- Bless the Camels
- Unbearable Weight of Staying
- My Father, the Astronaut
- Bless the Real Housewife
- The Abubakr Girls Are Different
- Bless This House
- Earth to Yosra
- Victoria in Illiyin
- Bless the Gun Tossed into a River - After ‘Freedom of Love’ by Andre Breton
Would I recommend this book??
Yes, I would recommend this beautiful poetry book.
Will I re-read this book?
Will I re-read this book?
I would re-read this, yes.
I read this from my electronic library, but I would love a physical copy of my own.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Domestic abuse
Moderate: Alcoholism, Miscarriage, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Grief
Minor: Animal death, Gun violence, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Death of parent, Pregnancy, War, and Injury/Injury detail