Shire has suggested that her work responds to problems of representation: ‘When I was younger I wanted to read something somewhere that I could see myself in.’ She describes her verse as ‘character-driven’, noting: ‘I don’t want to write victims, or martyrs, or vacuous stereotypes.’ Alexis Okeowo writes that ‘Shire conjures up a new language for belonging and displacement’ and scholars have noted the extensive use of her poetry to create awareness about the European migrant crisis and gender-based violence.Ĭite this: Haith, Chelsea. “.” Postcolonial Writers Make Worlds, 2017, . An album of her spoken word verse warsan versus melancholy (the seven stages of being lonely) (2012) is also available on Bandcamp. Her chapbooks explore a variety of styles, moving seamlessly between verse and prose-poetry. She has also experimented successfully with other media. The limitations and possibilities of social media platforms have shaped the format, style, length, and reception of Shire’s online verse. Other notable Web Poets include Nayyirah Waheed and Rupi Kaur. tags: beautiful, existence, feminism, self-esteem. My existence is not about how desirable you find me. Its not my responsibility to be beautiful. Shire arguably belongs to the generation of Web Poets who have used social media platforms such as Tumblr, Twitter and Instagram to publish their work before entering the more formal publishing industry. My alone feels so good, Ill only have you if youre sweeter than my solitude. The poem Homeby Kenyan-born, Somali-British poet, writer, and educator Warsan Shirehas been widely quoted and read over the last year, as many people feel that it has provided a medium for capturing the intensity of the global refugee crisis, and that it has given a voice to the millions of individuals who are part of it. ![]() Shire’s work was also famously featured in Beyoncé’s 2016 visual album Lemonade. Her line ‘No one leaves home unless home is the mouth of a shark’ (from ‘Conversations About Home (at the Deportation Centre)’ in Teaching my Mother How to Give Birth) was taken up by protestors resisting Donald Trump’s travel ban in 2017. Shire’s verse was put to work in both political and pop culture contexts in 20, a natural progression for a poet whose work concentrates on themes of nation, exile, displacement, belonging, the black female body, infidelity and violence. ![]() Warsan Shire, ‘Reclaiming the Feminine Voice’, 2014, Yves Salmon (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) via Flickr
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