Quote

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.

Warsan Shire

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Warsan Shire
Age: 36
Born: 1988
Born: January 1
Poet
Writer
Republic of Kenya
Things
Burning
Disappear
Shame
Beauty
True
Unwelcome
Body
Disappearing
Come
Belonging
Going
Longing

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Two people who were once very close can without blame or grand betrayal become strangers. Perhaps this is the saddest thing in the world.
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My alone feels so good, I'll only have you if you're sweeter than my solitude.
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My favourite people, biggest inspirations and closest friends are all women. Not a coincidence.
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Mother says there are locked rooms inside all women, kitchen of love, bedroom of grief, bathroom of apathy. Sometimes, the men, they come with keys, and sometimes the men, they come with hammers.
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Every mouth you’ve ever kissed was just practice. All the bodies you’ve ever undressed and ploughed in to were preparing you for me. I don’t mind tasting them in the memory of your mouth. Was it a long journey? Did it take you long to find me? You’re here now, welcome home.
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I want to love, but my hair smells of war and running and running.
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How far have you walked for men who've never held your feet in their laps?
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With you, intimacy colors my voice. Even 'hello' sounds like 'come here'.
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When I love, I love: wholly, thoroughly, completely, drowning in everything. Every glance can be a conversation, eyes just playing and saying what needs to be said. Silence is loud, and the air becomes heavy. I want you. I want all of you.
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I have my mother’s mouth and my father’s eyes on my face they are still together.
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I tend to the wound so often, it never heals.
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Give your daughters difficult names. Give your daughters names that command the full use of the tongue. My name makes you want to tell me the truth. My name doesn't allow me to trust anyone that cannot pronounce it right.
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Make peace with your body, it's not manmade, there are no flaws, there are no mistakes.
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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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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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I belong deeply to myself.
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We took such care of tomorrow, but died on the way there.
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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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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 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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