Warsan Shire is a Kenyan-born Somali poet and writer who is based in London. Born in 1988, she is an artist and activist who uses her work to document narratives of journey and trauma. This is a poem from her book 'Teaching my mother how to give birth'.
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Soundtrack - Lucas King
Reciter/Curator- Bhavna Bhasin
Illustration - Raktim Saha
GIF - Shiraz Husain
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Istaqfurulah
My mother says this city is slowly killing our women;
practicing back strokes at the local swimming pool.
I think of Kadija, how her body had failed her
on the way down from the block of flats.
The instructor tells us that the longest
a human being has held their breath under water
is 19 minutes and 21 seconds. At home in the bath,
my hair swells to the surface like vines, I stay submerged
until I can no longer stand it, think of all the things
I have allowed to slip through my fingers.
Inna lillahi Wa inna ilaihi Rajioon.
My mother says nobody can fight it -
the body returning to God,
but the way she fell, face first,
in the dirt,
mouth full of earth,
air, teeth, blood,
wearing a white cotton baati,
hair untied and smoked with ounsi,
I wonder if Kadija believed
she was going to float.
3 окт 2024
