From the variety of texts we have studied over this past year, “Home”, by Warsan Shire sticks out the most to me, given that it is the most recent one I have studied in-depth. In this poem, Shire expresses an emotional yearning for home through the deliberate use of visceral imagery – phrases such as “[n]o one leaves home unless home is the mouth of a shark,” and “[n]o one spends days and nights in the stomach of a truck,” help support this sentiment. Reading this poem as a privileged westerner, the visceral imagery of this poem tugs at my feelings as a means of challenging me to empathize with other peoples’ situations in contexts unfamiliar to my lifestyle. The individuals Shire speaks for in “Home”, are those immigrants and refugees who have suffered the dehumanizing effects of war and conflict which expose their emotionally overwhelming truths to the surface, part of why I love this poem.
Coming from an ancestral background of immigrants and war refugees, I can empathize with this poem at an esoteric level which attracts me to Shire’s style and content of writing. Growing up, I have listened to stories told by my parents and grandparents pertaining to the harsh reality of their upbringings in the indian subcontinent during the mid to late 20th century. One of the main stories that comes to mind was a bombing that destroyed a portion of my grandparents house in bangladesh during the civil war. The feelings they had at that time are quite similar to the feelings Shire portrays of the Somalian war refugees with regard to the risk of remaining at home, indicative of a dehumanizing effect of war and conflict on an individual.
For both these reasons, I favour “Home” by Warsan Shire – each time I read it, it touches my heart and soul.
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