Teaching My Mother How to Give Birth (Mouthmark): 10

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What elevates ‘teaching my mother how to give birth’, what gives the poems their disturbing brilliance, is Warsan Shire’s ability to give simple, beautiful eloquence to the veiled world where sensuality lives in the dominant narrative of Islam; reclaiming the more nuanced truths of earlier times – as in Tayeb Salih’s work – and translating to the realm of lyric the work of the likes of Nawal El Saadawi. For the past 70 years, people have been fleeing faster than ever, from the Holocaust, from the civil wars in parts of Europe, from revolutions in the Middle East and Africa, from war-torn lands, from totalitarian governments in Asia and Latin America; all with one purpose, survival for them and their families. And every step of the way they have encountered some form of oppression or mistrust. They are called rapists, murderers, inferior, savages; and the hate spreads like plague thanks to news networks and politicians. People forget these are humans that only want to feel safe, to have food for their family, to get educated and do better. People forget that down the line, someone in their family might have been in the same road, or will be in the future. Warsan Shire juga mengambil sejumput tema lain yang semakin memperkuat isi buku. Sebut saja soal perempuan, kebudayaan, beda sudut pandang antargenerasi, isu pengungsi, serta krisis perang. Itulah mengapa saya katakan bahwa buku ini cukup kompleks. Did you tell people that songs weren’t the same as a warm body or a soft mouth? Miriam, I’ve heard people using your songs as prayer, begging god in falsetto. You were a city exiled from skin, your mouth a burning church.”

Teaching my mother how to give birth : Shire, Warsan, 1988 Teaching my mother how to give birth : Shire, Warsan, 1988

My mother would grow to erase the memory of her biological mother, adopting her grandmother as her mother, the amnesia ran deep that she referred (and still) to her mother by her first name. On the occasional holiday visits her mother would pay, the relationship grew corrosive and volatile, with shouting be the normal mode of communication.

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In the first poem of the collection, "Your Mother’s First Kiss", Warsan details her mother's first relationship to a boy of whom she later learns that he "raped women / when the war broke out." The poem is haunting because with each verse, it becomes clearer that his boy also raped her mother when she was 16. It ends with the chilling verse: Last week, she saw him driving the number 18 bus,

Teaching My Mother How To Give Birth - Genius

Dalam puisi “Fire” disebutkan bahwa sang anak sudah menikah dengan suaminya selama 7 tahun. Bagi yang sudah menikah, mungkin akan berpendapat bahwa sayang rasanya untuk memutus hubungan yang telah terjalin bertahun-tahun. If my mother contracted and died of the virus, I would not be able to forgive both myself and her for not working through our relationship”, I thought. My psychologist tried to counsel me into not jumbling funeral scenarios before they happen but it all fell on stone. What your mother told you after your father left -- Your mother's first kiss -- Things we had lost in the summer -- Maymuun's mouth -- Grandfather's hands -- Bone -- Snow -- Birds -- Beauty -- The kitchen -- Fire -- When we last saw your father -- You were conceived -- Trying to swim with God -- Questions for Miriam -- Conversations about home -- Old Spice -- My foreign wife is dying and does not want to be touched -- Ugly -- Tea with our grandmothers -- In love and in war Here you can think of all the hurtful names you can call cancer, and it wouldn't stop killing. It wouldn't stop taking. Kenapa lebih memilih untuk bertahan dalam penderitaan dibandingkan berhenti di situasi menyiksa dan menjalani hidup lebih baik?Agar sang suami percaya bahwa dirinya masih perawan, sang istri menggunakan darah burung merpati untuk menodai seprai tempat tidur di malam pernikahan mereka. But wait, how if you’re gonna spend the rest of your life with abuse? How long will you deny it? How long will you close your eyes? How long will you survive? Tell me this does not remind you of all the refugees that have fled and are still fleeing from Syria, Somalia, Eritrea, Cuba, Mexico, China…