Her body is one long sigh
excerpts from Warsan Shire’s “teaching my mother how to give birth”
my father was a drunk
he married my mother
hands were slow but urgent
i know a shame
that shrouds, totally engulfs
why did you not warn her?
my mother’s remains
were never buried
scent of a woman completely on fire
i have my mother’s mouth
and my father’s eyes on my face
i know she smiles at him
he lives alone now
frail, a living memory
i did not ask him to stay
to my daughter i will say
‘when the men come,
set yourself on fire’
***
This piece is composed solely out of phrases taken randomly from Warsan Shire’s (2011) “teaching my mother how to give birth”. This is another Amazon Germany purchase of mine. I bought it in 2017 — based on a friend’s spot-on recommendation.
Shire’s work is powerful stuff! She takes us on a roller coaster ride through great senses of desperation, defiance…
