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To my daughter I will say, ‘when the men come, set yourself on fire.’

Warsan Shire

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Warsan Shire
Age: 36
Born: 1988
Born: January 1
Poet
Writer
Republic of Kenya
Fire
Come
Men
Daughter

More quotes by Warsan Shire

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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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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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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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We took such care of tomorrow, but died on the way there.
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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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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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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 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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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 am a lover without a lover. I am lovely and lonely and I belong deeply to myself.
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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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My alone feels so good, I'll only have you if you're sweeter than my solitude.
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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 want to love, but my hair smells of war and running and running.
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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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Light attracts light. But sometimes your light attracts moths and your warmth attracts parasites. Protect your space and energy
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My favourite people, biggest inspirations and closest friends are all women. Not a coincidence.
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Your mouth is a lonely place but I keep coming back.
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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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My heart is a flower blossoming out of my mouth.
Warsan Shire