Syrian and Iraqi refugees arrive from Turkey to Skala Sykamias, Lesbos island, Greece
Reflection On Warsan Shire’s “Home”
The first time I read even a line of Warsan Shire’s poem, Home, I was captivated by the images it provoked. I had been listening to the stories and watching the videos of refugees fleeing from the horrors and atrocities that are Syria’s daily reality. But nothing I had read or watched impacted me to the same degree as this poem.
“you have to understand,
that no one puts their children in a boat
unless the water is safer than the land”
What must it take to leave all one knows, to journey into the unknown, to eat your passport so you break all possibility of returning? I can only read this poem in small chunks, as it is just so painful. I have noticed, since first reading it, that I listen to the news about the refugees with a different heart.
I think of myself on my one and only “whale watching” adventure years ago, when sea sickness took over my body such that jumping out seemed like a reasonable option. Then I imagine these men and women, desperate to save themselves and their children, casting themselves onto the mercy of an ocean. An ocean fraught with dangers, but yet is safer than remaining behind.
I want to say that this poem helps me understand the risks my students take coming to post-secondary school, but even though that is true, it seems to trivialize the journey described in “Home.” Suffice it to say that this poem has connected me to humanity in a way I can’t yet fathom.
— Teresa Kisilevich
Teresa Kisilevich is a long-time educator in the elementary, secondary, and post-secondary levels, working for the past 17 years as an instructor, chairperson, and currently as the Associate Dean of Trades & Apprenticeship at Okanagan College in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada.
Warsan Shire is a Kenyan-born Somali poet and writer who is based in London. Born in 1988, she is an artist and activist who uses her work to document narratives of journey and trauma. Warsan has read her work internationally, including recent readings in South Africa, Italy and Germany, and her poetry has been translated into Italian, Spanish and Portuguese. Her book, Teaching My Mother How to Give Birth, was published in 2011.
Photo: By Ggia (Own work) [<a href=”http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0″>CC BY-SA 4.0</a>], <a href=”https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3A20151030_Syrians_and_Iraq_refugees_arrive_at_Skala_Sykamias_Lesvos_Greece_2.jpg”>via Wikimedia Commons</a>
Leave a Comment