Teaching My Mother How to Give Birth (Mouthmark): 10

Loved the poems. They reminded me of growing up and nostalgia. How does one pack it all?

Throbbing with poetic narratives of pain, loss, infidelity, abandonment, leaving home, lust, beauty, family, womanhood - this book is a masterpiece. It sweeps you up in its mastery (mistress-ry?) of words and images, and leaves you breathless by the time you've turned the last page. It's an experience you'll want to return to several times over, to fully grasp the power of Shire's brilliant and unique poetic imagination.

This is my first time reading the poet and won’t be my last. I found the poems in this very short collection intense, emotional and very moving. One poem in particular is almost heart-breaking: To my daughter I will say when the men come, set yourself on fire Who can fail to be touch by something so raw? The poems deal with the repercussions of displacement, war and terror, especially how these things affect women. The poems express the idea of female empowerment, of standing up for yourself and using all of your strength. Some of the poems are so raw I found them hard to read. Teaching My Mother How To Give Birth is a powerful collection of poem, words that need to be said in today’s world.

This is an excellent book of poems. 4 and a half stars. Slightly irritated that this whole book is also all her poems in her penguin modern poets book which I had already read. But I enjoyed reading them again.

Warsan Shire is one of those contemporary poets whose work I’m familiar with, but have never actually bought any of her work. I feel like it might be the same for a lot of people, because I can’t imagine anyone who has spent any length of time on the internet hasn’t ever read at least a few lines of “For Women Who Are Difficult To Love”. It seems like parts of it are featured as some facebook status every other week, like it pops up on twitter every so often, and is featured on basically every pinterest board I follow; sometimes credited, though often not. Within the poetry community, of course, she is known. Perhaps not to the extent of other contemporary masters such as Nikita Gill or Rupi Kaur, but enough that I’ve been forcibly told I should hurry up and read her work, already. Read it I did, and now I can see why so many people admire her so much. All of her work is punchy, crisp, and while not always “relatable”, written in such a manner that you can feel the tragedy and heartbreak as though it were. That’s a hard thing to do, especially in the medium of a poem. The kind of poetry I enjoy most to read is clever and concise –oh, I like Burns and Byron well enough, but it’s flowery and a little frivolous, and it’s lovely, really, but just not my cup of soup. Warsen Shire’s “Teaching My Mother How To Give Birth” is very much women’s poetry, and while I’m sure there are plenty of men who do and would enjoy it, I feel like the subject matter might not strike them in quite the same way. There were several points where I felt my eyes swimming a little, particularly “Your Mother’s First Kiss” and “The Kitchen”, but the one that hit me hardest was the very last one, “In Love and In War”. It’s a very short collection, but that by no means diminishes its contents. In actual fact, I’d almost say its brevity lends itself to the overall tone and style of the book. As I said previously: Clever and concise. Full marks, and can't wait to read more from her.

This small poetry book came into my collection because I had seen quotes from Warson Shire, And a couple of poems. A friend and I use a poem of hers that means a lot to us to say what we need to when we want to communicate to each other. This book contains lines of aching truth, and as should be, some lines that do not ( yet ) speak to me but tell me of the Poet and experience of others. I am grateful for it. It is beautiful.

Very lovely poetry. I think mainly poc and diaspora will find it most resounding as it deals with subject matters of war, displacement, settling somewhere new. But also family, love, relationships, womanhood. I really enjoyed it. some of the poetry was very painful and fraught, still hits you somewhere in your heart. The collection was very small though. some of the poetry isn't particularly sophisticated, and others are more crafted and precise than others. A good purchase for those interested in contemporary poetry and poetry of diaspora/young people in this country and all their experiences and heritage.

Oh my you are in for a real treat when you read this. Fans of short poems will adore this book, it's not written like Leav or Faudet which is quite Twilight style, this is the real deal. Raw, in your face and powerful, Shire just smacks all these poems around your face and leaves you thinking - what on earth was I reading before? It is a very slim book but in this instance it is quality and not quantity. I read it over a cup of tea and when I finished it, I knew this is a book that I will returning back to. A must buy!

It’s all so sad and happy, sensual and tragic, full of love and full of hate. Above all, it is beautifully written. I feel like I went through it all with the author.

صغير وخفيف مره انصدمت من حجمه

Warsan opens your eyes to one's own hidden truth. Which makes it easy to resonate with her stories. I will definitely read again and again

Distinto y no deja indiferente. No es poesía al uso. Habla de racismo, xenofobia, guerra, pero también de dolor personal y ser mujer. Es absolutamente diferente y algo que puede interesarle a cualquier persona que le guste mínimamente la literatura. Warsan golpea.

الكتاب جيد من جميع النواحي لكنّ المحتوى ليس ضمن تفضيلاتي