Poetry!!!

[Il Pirate]

Stunning.

Thank you bish.

I shall circulate this poem as widely as I can.

Where did you find it?

I'd also like to thank Bish for posting the poem. Also, it was either thur/fri/ or maybe even sat last week (apologies, the brain isn't what it once was). Several poems were featured in the guardian (culture section ? I read the online version, it's free!), written by current asylum seekers, and by others who'd secured asylum. Some very moving stuff.

[LeverEnd]

I agree, it's a moving piece of work. I've worked with kids who've come from refugee camps, they'd seen some horrible stuff by all accounts.

[Bruce Rioja]

I agree, it's a moving piece of work. I've worked with kids who've come from refugee camps, they'd seen some horrible stuff by all accounts.

But nothing that could ready them for the sight of you, post skinfull, though, eh?

[LeverEnd]

I agree, it's a moving piece of work. I've worked with kids who've come from refugee camps, they'd seen some horrible stuff by all accounts.

But nothing that could ready them for the sight of you, post skinfull, though, eh?

They're not old enough to have spotted me staggering out of Bamboogy on a Saturday night yet. Their time will come.

[Montreal Wanderer]

I agree, it's a moving piece of work. I've worked with kids who've come from refugee camps, they'd seen some horrible stuff by all accounts.

However, Warsan Shire has lived in England since she was a year old and was born in Kenya. Her parents may have been Somali refugees.

[LeverEnd]

I agree, it's a moving piece of work. I've worked with kids who've come from refugee camps, they'd seen some horrible stuff by all accounts.

However, Warsan Shire has lived in England since she was a year old and was born in Kenya. Her parents may have been Somali refugees.

I was aware of that Monty. The fact that people are still fleeing and first-hand stories heard must have had a profound effect on her I suppose, and she's had the education to give a voice to some of these people's experiences.
It may not be the greatest poem ever written, but it was memorable in the same way as watching Hotel Rwanda, for example.

[Lost Leopard Spot]

I agree, it's a moving piece of work. I've worked with kids who've come from refugee camps, they'd seen some horrible stuff by all accounts.

However, Warsan Shire has lived in England since she was a year old and was born in Kenya. Her parents may have been Somali refugees.

Apparently not... her father is a journalist and writer. He was a journalist in Kenya before moving to London as a journalist. His mother (Her grandmother) may have been a refugee. Warsan Shire herself talks of her awarness of refugees being fostered when she first went to Africa (South Africa) as a student and worked (as a volunteer for two months) with a charity. That's all been pulled from various interviews the fullest of which can be found here... http://wellandoftenpress.com/reader/to- ... san-shire/ She mainly appears desperate to reconnect to her Somaliness, being brought up as English and having a Kenyan passsport seems to upset her view of her place in the world.

[CAPSLOCK]

And she's now living in a Californian refugee camp

The kids had it hard....

[thebish]

Boooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!! person with reasonably comfortable life writes a poem!

[Lost Leopard Spot]

Boooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!! person with reasonably comfortable life writes a poem!

I believe the point is that the poem (about why refugees flee 'home') was advertised as being by the Somali poet Warsan Shire.
That being the case it is reasonable to point out that she's spent her entire conscious life in the west, indeed living in London.
Her passport is Kenyan, and indeed that is where she was born.
And she herself has never been a refugee, and it would appear neither have her parents.
Therefore the allusion that she herself is a Somali refugee ('home', Somali poet, poem about refugees, Somalia well known for having refugees) is in fact false.

She can write poems about what she wants, but if she wrote about

the great green sea
the salt lanes awash
bows dipping like dolphins

and signed herself off as 'The Naval Gunner's Daughter'

and it transpires that she was in fact the offspring of a landlubber and had never seen the sea then I think it appropriate that comments are made about it

[thebish]

And she herself has never been a refugee, and it would appear neither have her parents.

where exactly does my post say otherwise?

she was born in Kenya to somali parents, if she chooses to call herself Somali, what business or concern is it of yours? it seems perfectly reasonable to me - just as people born in England to welsh parents can quite reasonably call themselves welsh.

get over yourself!

[Lost Leopard Spot]

And she herself has never been a refugee, and it would appear neither have her parents.

where exactly does my post say otherwise?

she was born in Kenya to somali parents, if she chooses to call herself Somali, what business or concern is it of yours? it seems perfectly reasonable to me - just as people born in England to welsh parents can quite reasonably call themselves welsh.

get over yourself!

I don't need to get over myself...
I was pointing out the allusion that she herself was a refugee
Definition of allusion: an expression designed to call something to mind without mentioning it explicitly; an indirect or passing reference.
The allusion was that she, herself was a refugee.
I wasn't on about her ethnicity, thank you very much.

[CAPSLOCK]

Anyway, the poem is nowt special and if it wasn't about something close to your hearts, there wouldn't have been all this fawning and cooing

She'd be better off getting a proper job

And I'll bet she wasn't Kenyan or Somali when it was benefits time


This has to get a bite

[thebish]

And she herself has never been a refugee, and it would appear neither have her parents.

where exactly does my post say otherwise?

she was born in Kenya to somali parents, if she chooses to call herself Somali, what business or concern is it of yours? it seems perfectly reasonable to me - just as people born in England to welsh parents can quite reasonably call themselves welsh.

get over yourself!

I don't need to get over myself...
I was pointing out the allusion that she herself was a refugee
Definition of allusion: an expression designed to call something to mind without mentioning it explicitly; an indirect or passing reference.
The allusion was that she, herself was a refugee.
I wasn't on about her ethnicity, thank you very much.

where is that allusion, exactly?

[Lost Leopard Spot]

And she herself has never been a refugee, and it would appear neither have her parents.

where exactly does my post say otherwise?

she was born in Kenya to somali parents, if she chooses to call herself Somali, what business or concern is it of yours? it seems perfectly reasonable to me - just as people born in England to welsh parents can quite reasonably call themselves welsh.

get over yourself!

I don't need to get over myself...
I was pointing out the allusion that she herself was a refugee
Definition of allusion: an expression designed to call something to mind without mentioning it explicitly; an indirect or passing reference.
The allusion was that she, herself was a refugee.
I wasn't on about her ethnicity, thank you very much.

where is that allusion, exactly?

She writes a poem entitled Home
She calls herself a Somali poet
The poem is about refugees
Somalia is well known for refugees

Therefore she alludes (to suggest or call attention to indirectly; to hint at) to being a refugee

[thebish]

no - bollox.

a welshman writes about rugby - maybe using the 1st person literary device - he is described as a welsh poet. that doesn't mean he ever played rugby.

the allusion is entirely in your head.

here's a thing... Somalis are other things other than refugees. (poets even)

maybe she's also a pirate? they're well known for that too...

OR...

a poet who identifies herself with Somalia writes a poem about the plight of some of the people she identifies with... boooooooooooooooooooo!!!

[Lost Leopard Spot]

no
a welshman writes about rugby - maybe using the 1st person literary device - he is described as a welsh poet. that doesn't mean he ever played rugby.

- I believe I covered this one a page back…

The words should speak for themselves, I hate it when a qualifier is added to give 'depth' (or for whatever reason it is intended to supply) - I mean, people don't go around printing/distributing stuff by, for example, the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas, and if they did they shouldn't.

the allusion is entirely in your head.

- I think that’s where they tend to form…
And what's more you have no conclusive proof of the fact it is only in my head, indeed the perception that the allusion is entirely in my head may well be entirely in your head; until somebody else says otherwise who knows either way?

here's a thing... Somalis are other things other than refugees. (poets even)
maybe she's also a pirate? they're well known for that too...
OR...
a poet who identifies herself with Somalia writes a poem about the plight of some of the people she identifies with

I never said otherwise, I think that’s one of the main points I made in reply to (firstly Billy le Blanc) and (secondly) Monty.


I also think you’ll find that my posts on the subject have been temperate and arose directly in response to this…

I suspect hoboh, bobo and LLS will be immune, but I'd be genuinely interested in their response to it. I say this without aggression or argumentative intent of any kind.

Whereas since you’ve joined the debate…

what business or concern is it of yours?
Get over yourself!!!
- bollox.
... boooooooooooooooooooo!!!

This seems to be against the spirit of your thread entitled “General Apology” (if you don’t mind me pointing out )

[thebish]

I think you are mixing up "allusion" - which has a measure of author-intent - with a combination of "supposition" and "delusion" - entirely in your own head!

I think you should calm down and get over yourself!

somali woman writes poem which is posted on poetry thread!

someone who doesn't normally like poetry doesn't like it....

boooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

[Worthy4England]

^^ Errr I have to say your holiness, I did get the impression, given the way it was presented, that it had been written by someone with first hand experience (which could be testament to it being well written) but sorta diminishes its relevance...

[Montreal Wanderer]

^^ Errr I have to say your holiness, I did get the impression, given the way it was presented, that it had been written by someone with first hand experience (which could be testament to it being well written) but sorta diminishes its relevance...

The original post did say at the top and the bottom that she was a Somali poet, which would give that impression. She is not Somali so it would have been better to leave the misleading adjective out. Then the poem could have been judged on its own merits and would likely appeal to many.