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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.

Warsan Shire

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Warsan Shire
Age: 36
Born: 1988
Born: January 1
Poet
Writer
Republic of Kenya
Like
Neck
Necks
Breasts
Slow
Machete
Cancer
Machetes
Fast
Apathy
Says
Breast
War
Kills

More quotes by Warsan Shire

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At the end of the day, it isn’t where I came from. Maybe home is somewhere I’m going and never have been before.
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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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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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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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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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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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Document the moments you feel most in love with yourself - what you're wearing, who you're around, what you're doing. Recreate and repeat.
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Sad people have the gift of time, while the world dizzies everyone else they remain stagnant, their bodies refusing to follow pace with the universe. With these kind of people everything aches for too long, everything moves without rush, wounds are always wet.
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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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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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Make peace with your body, it's not manmade, there are no flaws, there are no mistakes.
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I want to love, but my hair smells of war and running and running.
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My heart is a flower blossoming out of my mouth.
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Light attracts light. But sometimes your light attracts moths and your warmth attracts parasites. Protect your space and energy
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How far have you walked for men who've never held your feet in their laps?
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You are terrifying, and strange, and beautiful. Something not everyone knows how to love.
Warsan Shire
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Perhaps, the problem is not the intensity of your love, but the quality of the people you are loving.
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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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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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To my daughter I will say, ‘when the men come, set yourself on fire.’
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