by Paulina Freedman
March 3, 2022
Paulina Freedman
©2022 West Trade Review
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Race, Womanhood, and Family in Warsan Shire's Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head
POETRY REVIEW
Stay Connected to Our Literary Community. Subscribe to Our Newsletter
Image by Matheus Bertelli on Pexels
Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head by Warsan Shire; Penguin Random House; 96 pages; $17
Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head is Warsan Shire’s debut full-length collection. Perhaps best known for her work on Beyoncé’s visual album Lemonade, she had also previously released two chapbooks, Teaching My Mother How to Give Birth (2011) and Her Blue Body (2015). She was awarded the inaugural Brunel International African Poetry Prize and served as the first Young Poet Laureate of London. Shire is a Somali British poet, born in Nairobi and raised in London. Her poetry often draws on her heritage and her upbringing, as well as references to current events and pop culture. This long-awaited collection solidifies Shire as one of the most intriguing contemporary poets.
The prominent themes throughout this collection include race, womanhood, family, and the refugee experience. Like the collection’s title, many of the poems’ titles begin with the phrase, “Bless the…” This refrain seems to indicate the poet’s gratitude for all the things that have made her who she is, and all the things that have shaped her poetry, both good and bad, from “Bless the Bulimic” to “Bless Our CCTV Star” to “Bless the Real Housewife” to “Bless the Moon.” In a New Yorker article, Shire tells Alexis Okeowo how much of the poetry in Bless the Daughter… drew on conversations with, and observations of, her relatives, many of whom fled to England to escape the atrocities of the civil war in Somalia. Shire also writes about the experiences of immigrant women and refugees, topics with which she is intimately familiar.
Shire’s work is peppered with pop culture references. A poem titled “My Loneliness is Killing Me” borrows lyrics from a classic Britney Spears song; another includes the line, “Are you there, God? / It’s me, Warsan,” a reference to Judy Blume’s young adult novel Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret; yet another references the TV show Dawson’s Creek. These all call back to the period during which Shire grew up, reinforcing the themes of womanhood and coming of age. The references ground the collection in time and create a relatability for readers, particularly those who grew up in the same era. Shire uses this to invite others into her experience and to connect with her audience.
The poems also explore the idea of home and belonging. In “Home,” Shire writes, “I don’t know where I’m going. Where I came from is disappearing. I / am unwelcome. My beauty is not beauty here. My body is burning / with the shame of not belonging, my body is longing.” The version in Bless the Daughter… is updated from the original, titled “Conversations About Home at the Deportation Centre.” Shire says this poem was part of her attempt to fill in the gaps in her own identity. The poem certainly conveys a longing for home, and the loss and regret that comes from being forced out of one’s home. While this can be interpreted literally, as the poem is about refugees, it also evokes an all too familiar sense of despair over the lack, or loss, of identity.
Many poems touch on the idea of motherhood, and feature a mother character often referred to as “Hooyo,” the Somali word for mother. In “Saint Hooyo,” Shire writes in the voice of her speaker’s mother, “I don’t recognize my own children / they speak and dream in the wrong language / as much as I understand / it may as well be the language of birds.” The thread of motherhood, and parenthood in general, circle back to the collection’s title; the speaker seems to suggest that the silent moments of adolescence were sometimes filled by the voice in her head. Other standout poems in the collection include “Assimilation,” “Bless Your Ugly Daughter,” “Backwards,” and “Grief Has Its Blue Hands in my Hair,” which was originally featured in Shire’s second chapbook.
Reading through this collection is difficult in the best way. The words carry power and yet the poems have a clarity that make them easy to devour. The speaker in these poems has very specific experiences that have shaped her, and yet the reactions and emotions are globally recognizable, and will no doubt ring true for many readers. Shire’s poetry is both accessible and impactful and paints a beautiful and very real portrait of a young woman discovering her identity and place in the world. It's a great collection for novice and seasoned poetry readers alike.
