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I have my mother’s mouth and my father’s eyes on my face they are still together.

Warsan Shire

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Warsan Shire
Age: 36
Born: 1988
Born: January 1
Poet
Writer
Republic of Kenya
Face
Faces
Eye
Father
Mother
Shire
Stills
Mouth
Together
Mouths
Still
Eyes

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My name is indigenous to my country, it is not easy to pronounce, it takes effort to say correctly and I am absolutely in love with the sound of it and its meaning. Also, it's not the kind of name you baby, slip into sweet talk mid sentence, late night phone conversation, whisper into the receiver kind of name, so, of that I am glad.
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I am a lover without a lover. I am lovely and lonely and I belong deeply to myself.
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I think in Somali, I cuss in Somali, when I'm afraid I reach for somali and this language is very rich, very filling. It's an unflinching language the crudest most terrible things sound perfectly normal in Somali.
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Make love like you have no secrets like you've never been left never been hurt like the world don't owe you a single wretched thing.
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Apathy is the same as war, it all kills you, she says. Slow like cancer in the breast or fast like a machete in the neck.
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You are terrifying, and strange, and beautiful. Something not everyone knows how to love.
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I tend to the wound so often, it never heals.
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I know a few things to be true. I do not know where I am going, where I have come from is disappearing, I am unwelcome and my beauty is not beauty here. My body is burning with the shame of not belonging, my body is longing.
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My favourite people, biggest inspirations and closest friends are all women. Not a coincidence.
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You can't make homes out of human beings.
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The ego hurts you like this: you become obsessed with the one person who does not love you. blind to the rest who do.
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I belong deeply to myself.
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There is no intimacy like that between two women who have chosen to be sisters.
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With you, intimacy colors my voice. Even 'hello' sounds like 'come here'.
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I tore up and ate my own passport in an airport hotel once. I'm bloated with language I can’t afford to forget.
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Don't assume, ask. Be kind. Tell the truth. Don't say anything you can't stand behind fully. Have integrity. Tell people how you feel.
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It's not my responsibility to be beautiful. I'm not alive for that purpose. My existence is not about how desirable you find me.
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Later that night, I held an atlas on my lap, ran my fingers across the whole world, and whispered, ‘where does it hurt?’ It answered, everywhere, everywhere, everywhere.
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And you tried to change, didn't you? Closed your mouth more. Tried to be softer, prettier, less volatile, less awake... You can't make homes out of human beings. Someone should have already told you that. And if he wants to leave, then let him leave. You are terrifying, and strange, and beautiful. Something not everyone knows how to love.
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I’m overwhelmed. My biggest downfall is my brightest blessing, I feel too much, all the time. Ya Allah, if it’ll keep my heart soft, break my heart every day.
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