{"id":3835,"date":"2021-03-31T00:00:14","date_gmt":"2021-03-31T04:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/?p=3835"},"modified":"2021-03-31T11:18:04","modified_gmt":"2021-03-31T15:18:04","slug":"wednesday-march-31-2021-warsan-shire-reading-the-journeys-of-refugees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2021\/03\/31\/wednesday-march-31-2021-warsan-shire-reading-the-journeys-of-refugees\/","title":{"rendered":"Wednesday, March 31, 2021 Warsan Shire reading the journeys of refugees"},"content":{"rendered":"

In this lovely contemplative place some 60 miles north of Motown, I am finding nourishment in an A+ fitness center, \u00a0consistent attention to metrics like blood sugar and a mix of prescription meds, \u00a0early morning prayer attention to my newest-bound prayer journal while the dining room is still quiet. \u00a0Jesuits, like monks of St. Benedict learn to notice subtle realities in the world around them. \u00a0Perhaps that\u2019s why this Warsan Shire compelling poem keeps pulling my coat recently, asking me to notice the c. 60,000,000 displaced human beings walking the roads of the world, driven from their own home places.<\/p>\n

I lifted this from an Advent season 7 years ago. \u00a0 Perhaps Warsan Shires perceptive language will disturb and bless you as it has me this lovely morning, the last day of March. \u00a0Have a blest mid-week day.<\/p>\n

john sj<\/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\u201cwhat they did yesterday afternoon\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

by warsan shire<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/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

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

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Warsan 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":"

In this lovely contemplative place some 60 miles north of Motown, I am finding nourishment in an A+ fitness center, \u00a0consistent attention to metrics like blood sugar and a mix of prescription meds, \u00a0early morning prayer attention to my newest-bound … 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\/3835"}],"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=3835"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3835\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3836,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3835\/revisions\/3836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}