{"id":2014,"date":"2016-09-30T00:00:37","date_gmt":"2016-09-30T04:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/mission-and-identity\/?p=2014"},"modified":"2019-09-18T16:47:34","modified_gmt":"2019-09-18T20:47:34","slug":"sept-30-where-does-it-hurt-warsan-shire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2016\/09\/30\/sept-30-where-does-it-hurt-warsan-shire\/","title":{"rendered":"Sept 30 – “Where Does it Hurt?” Warsan Shire"},"content":{"rendered":"

Friday, \u00a0last day in this September –<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the last day of the last work week in September, which is, in the United States, the first month of what is called the real election race, the time when many potential voters begin to think seriously about who they will support for the presidency and for other more local elections. \u00a0 Judging from what I read in media and hear from friends these past weeks, the uncompromising venom in much of September\u2019s public discourse, punctuated by unpredictable violent actions around this country and around the world, wear on people\u2019s inner spirits. \u00a0Mine too. \u00a0Perhaps there are no better times to read a strong poem and \u00a0renew our imaginations. \u00a0 \u00a0For me and perhaps for you this is a good time to return to an exquisite \u00a0poem and allow the poet\u2019s\u00a0language to take the reader into intimate tenderness. \u00a0When we have eyes to see and ears, \u00a0kindness at close range can open ways into courage during a hard time in a hard world.<\/p>\n

Best to read the poem out loud, with pauses, to let the\u00a0cadence and word choices\u00a0surprise you and restore realism and capacity for the world\u2019s beauty.<\/p>\n

I first posted this poem last December when many millions of people were reeling from the bombings in Paris. \u00a0I am posting it this morning because, in my own weariness of spirit, \u00a0I want to read it again.<\/p>\n

Have a blest weekend,
\njohn sj<\/p>\n

p.s.\u00a0 Today & tomorrow here at my university, we invite alums back, to hang out with each other, and check out the remarkable transformations a city and a university well along in a startling process of rebirth. With the many troubles in the country and the world, that encourages me.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Taken from Work Day Post December 4, 2015<\/u><\/p>\n

Somali-British poet\u00a0Warsan Shire\u2019s poem evokes intimacy\u00a0\u2014\u00a0a crying child lucky enough to have a mom or a dad hold her or him, whispering \u201cwhere does it hurt?\u201d \u00a0Shire enters that moment and opens it out into the wide world and a time marked by brutal absolute convictions that demonize those with whom one differs. \u00a0Columnist\u00a0Omir Safi turned to Shire\u2019s poem while reeling with shock after the Paris massacre in December 2015.<\/p>\n

\u201cI watched the outpouring of grief from all over the world, including most of my Muslim friends. I saw hundreds of Facebook profiles being changed to the French flag-themed profile pictures, and thousands of\u00a0#prayerforParis<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0#Prayers4Paris<\/a>\u00a0tweets. \u00a0I also saw, as I knew would come, wounded cries of the heart from friends in Beirut wondering why their own atrocity (43 dead) just one day before \u2014 also at the hands of ISIS \u2014 had not received any such similar outpouring of grief; friends from Pakistan wondering why there was no option to \u201ccheck in as safe\u201d during their experiences with violent attacks; friends from Central African Republic wondering why their dead \u2014 in the thousands \u2014 are the subject of no one\u2019s global solidarity.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Today\u2019s Post: \u00a0<\/strong>“what they did yesterday afternoon”
\n<\/strong>by warsan shire<\/p>\n

\"warsan-shire\"<\/a><\/p>\n

they set my aunts house on fire
\ni cried the way women on tv do
\nfolding at the middle
\nlike a five pound note.
\ni called the boy who use to love me
\ntried to \u2018okay\u2019 my voice
\ni said\u00a0hello
\nhe said\u00a0warsan, what\u2019s wrong, what\u2019s happened?<\/p>\n

i\u2019ve been praying,
\nand these are what my prayers look like;
\ndear god
\ni come from two countries
\none is thirsty
\nthe other is on fire
\nboth need water.<\/p>\n

later that night<\/p>\n

i held an atlas in my lap
\nran my fingers across the whole world
\nand whispered
\nwhere does it hurt?<\/p>\n

it answered
\neverywhere
\neverywhere
\neverywhere.<\/p>\n

\"warsanshire\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Warsan Shire<\/strong><\/p>\n

posted November 16 2015 \u00a0on Amber J Kaiser (http:\/\/amberjkeyser.com\/2015\/11\/warsan-shire\/<\/a>)<\/p>\n

(Somali<\/a>:\u00a0Warsan Shire<\/em>,\u00a0Arabic<\/a>:\u00a0\u0648\u0631\u0633\u0627\u0646 \u0634\u0631\u0649\u200e\u200e, born 1 August 1988)
\nis a\u00a0London<\/a>\u2013based-\u00a0Somali<\/a>\u00a0writer, poet, editor and teacher.[1]<\/a>\u00a0 (https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Warsan_Shire<\/a>)<\/sup><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Friday, \u00a0last day in this September – It\u2019s the last day of the last work week in September, which is, in the United States, the first month of what is called the real election race, the time when many potential … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11641],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2014"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/139"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2014"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2014\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2017,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2014\/revisions\/2017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}