Warsan Shire, 2013 winner of the The Brunel University African Poetry Prize
It’s the year of Warsan Shire. The Somali-Brittish poet, born in Kenya, seems to be the only one with the words to capture the world’s feelings and emotions.
In the wake of the widely distributed photo of the body of Aylan Kurdi, washed upon the shore of Turkey, her poem Home was the only thing that made sense.
Now, her poem “what they did yesterday afternoon” is circulating the internet. While written about the 2011 “August riots” in the UK, it resonates today, putting into words what the world is feeling in the wake of the Paris attacks.
She writes:
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
-KitJ