Tuesday, November 17, 2015

warsan shire's poem "what they did yesterday afternoon"

Araweelo Returns WIP (see below credit) 
what they did yesterday afternoon 


they set my aunts house on fire
i cried the way women on tv do
folding at the middle
like a five pound note.
i called the boy who use to love me 
tried to ‘okay’ my voice
i said hello
he said warsan, what’s wrong, what’s happened?

i’ve been praying,
and these are what my prayers look like;
dear god
i come from two countries
one is thirsty
the other is on fire
both need water.

later that night
i held an atlas in my lap
ran my fingers across the whole world
and whispered
where does it hurt?

it answered 
everywhere
everywhere
everywhere.

Warsan Shire’s poetry and words can be found on 



Warsan Shire was born in Somalia and raised in England. Her poetry has been featured on the Poetry Foundation website.
"Araweelo Returns WIP" is copyrighted by somaliart at:
 http://somaliart.deviantart.com/art/araweelo-returns-WIP-somali-art-498728859