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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.
Warsan Shire
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Warsan Shire
Age: 36
Born: 1988
Born: January 1
Poet
Writer
Republic of Kenya
Later
Lap
Hurt
Whispered
Night
Answered
Doe
Ran
Whole
Held
World
Everywhere
Fingers
Shire
Across
Atlas
More quotes by Warsan Shire
You can't make homes out of human beings.
Warsan Shire
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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I have my mother’s mouth and my father’s eyes on my face they are still together.
Warsan Shire
I belong deeply to myself.
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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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With you, intimacy colors my voice. Even 'hello' sounds like 'come here'.
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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.
Warsan Shire
Your mouth is a lonely place but I keep coming back.
Warsan Shire
I won't glorify or romanticise heartbreak, for me it was a kind of death and I was forced to keep living.
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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.
Warsan Shire
The ego hurts you like this: you become obsessed with the one person who does not love you. blind to the rest who do.
Warsan Shire
Light attracts light. But sometimes your light attracts moths and your warmth attracts parasites. Protect your space and energy
Warsan Shire
My alone feels so good, I'll only have you if you're sweeter than my solitude.
Warsan Shire
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.
Warsan Shire
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.
Warsan Shire
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.
Warsan Shire
Perhaps, the problem is not the intensity of your love, but the quality of the people you are loving.
Warsan Shire
To my daughter I will say, ‘when the men come, set yourself on fire.’
Warsan Shire
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.
Warsan Shire
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.
Warsan Shire