Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head: Shortlisted for the 2022 Felix Dennis Prize

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or the traumatised immigrant "She listens to the clamoring voices, oh how blessed she is, how proud they are, how all their hopes depend on her, how walahi, all their dreams lie at her feet. It is full of Arabic words (which are explained in an informative glossary at the end of the collection); it's full of (to-me) foreign music and sounds (of the surahs, the birds, and sirens); it smells of blood, perfume, jasmine and shisha smoke.

That of the refugee "All these men between my legs, a gun, a promise, a lie, his name, his flag, his language, his manhood in my mouth. The commanding debut from Shire captures the loneliness of migration in crystalline language punctuated by the menace of patriarchal violence. Born in 1988, Warsan has read her work extensively all over Britain and internationally - including recent readings in South Africa, Italy, Germany, Canada, North America and Kenya- and her début book, 'TEACHING MY MOTHER HOW TO GIVE BIRTH' (flipped eye), was published in 2011. There is pain, regret and anger in the gentle, wistful tone, as ‘dreams [are] macerated under grief’s gaze. The ache of these emotions creates the perfect entry into what will become a searing pain as Shire’s writing continues.

Only then does Shire provide her readers with several jarring accounts of violence, evoking more visceral reactions. So, if you wanna give Warsan Shire a shot (which I'd highly recommend), I'd say read Teaching My Mother How To Give Birth first. The collection truly ends with the poem “Nail Technician as a Palm Reader,” closing with the image of a daughter “blossoming / out of a hole in my face. Perhaps Shire is providing her reader with a visceral image of the continuous nature of intergenerational trauma, but at its culmination, the collection continues to lack a narrative which can carry its reader through these deeply harrowing stories.

The long-awaited collection from one of our most exciting contemporary poets, this book is a blessing, an incantatory celebration of resilience and survival. Shire introduced readers to her native language (with translations) and to the prayers and customs of her Muslim faith that gave her the strength to endure. But included are some high voltage descriptions inspired by rape and immigration experience that have the power to remain. Poems of migration, womanhood, trauma, and resilience from the celebrated collaborator on Beyoncé's Lemonade and Black Is King, award-winning Somali British poet Warsan Shire.Some of the best poem for men are here: Glitter On The Mouths Of Boys, Joyride, My Father The Astronaut, Bless The Gun Tossed Into A River. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others.

Throughout the poems, Shire uses Somali words when referencing traditional familial, cultural, and religious subjects. With her first full-length poetry collection, Warsan Shire introduces us to a girl who, in the absence of a nurturing guide, makes her own stumbling way towards womanhood.

To say Warsan Shire’s first full-length poetry collection is ‘highly anticipated’ is an understatement. Bless the Daugher is a collection of a more mature author, the poems are connected through themes and characters, the poems seem more thought out.