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A review by gabsalott13
Teaching My Mother How to Give Birth by Warsan Shire
3.0
I read this chapbook for the Lemonade unit of a course about the Knowles and Carter families' connection to American music. I forgot and quickly remembered that I've seen many of these poems on my various social media timelines, which I'll get to later. With that said, I really enjoyed:
1. Shire's uber-accessible brand of poetry, which seems made for the women she writes about to actually read
2. Shire's inclusion of her religious teachings, language, and culture throughout her work
3. Her exploration of faux-innocence in “Birds,” which asks us to question the intelligence and agency of the allegedly helpless women choosing to live in traditional environments.
4. “You Were Conceived," which shows her rare grace for wronged wives *and* wronged mistresses. This one reminded me of Esther Perel’s work in [b:The State of Affairs: Rethinking Infidelity|34017010|The State of Affairs Rethinking Infidelity|Esther Perel|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1495687620s/34017010.jpg|55014433], one of my favorite January reads. It also made me wonder: in an album Doreen St. Felix memorably described as Beyonce "seriously [getting to] know a matriarchy," what sympathy did she offer to the other women?
What I don't like about these poems all nails down to their repetitive and trite moments, which I believe is separate from their accessibility. It's definitely a fine line, but as a student privileged with an elite education, I'm not sure it's mine to draw. I've been in academic spaces that mocked the "seriousness" of slam and Insta-poets, which often felt like not-so-coded racism and classism. However, I still thought many of these were just sentences chopped up into lines, like those [b:Milk and Honey|23513349|Milk and Honey|Rupi Kaur|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1491595510s/23513349.jpg|43116473] parodies that took over the internet a while back. Whatever's here, I really wish I saw it!
Our class is also grappling with black women and cultural canons: Beyonce next to Dylan and co., Julie Dash's place amongst more celebrated filmmakers, and now Instapoets next to traditional writers. All this makes me long for the day when we lit snobs can fully celebrate women like Shire, who have truly democratized a long-lofty art form. Sadly, at least for me, it is *not* today.
1. Shire's uber-accessible brand of poetry, which seems made for the women she writes about to actually read
2. Shire's inclusion of her religious teachings, language, and culture throughout her work
3. Her exploration of faux-innocence in “Birds,” which asks us to question the intelligence and agency of the allegedly helpless women choosing to live in traditional environments.
4. “You Were Conceived," which shows her rare grace for wronged wives *and* wronged mistresses. This one reminded me of Esther Perel’s work in [b:The State of Affairs: Rethinking Infidelity|34017010|The State of Affairs Rethinking Infidelity|Esther Perel|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1495687620s/34017010.jpg|55014433], one of my favorite January reads. It also made me wonder: in an album Doreen St. Felix memorably described as Beyonce "seriously [getting to] know a matriarchy," what sympathy did she offer to the other women?
What I don't like about these poems all nails down to their repetitive and trite moments, which I believe is separate from their accessibility. It's definitely a fine line, but as a student privileged with an elite education, I'm not sure it's mine to draw. I've been in academic spaces that mocked the "seriousness" of slam and Insta-poets, which often felt like not-so-coded racism and classism. However, I still thought many of these were just sentences chopped up into lines, like those [b:Milk and Honey|23513349|Milk and Honey|Rupi Kaur|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1491595510s/23513349.jpg|43116473] parodies that took over the internet a while back. Whatever's here, I really wish I saw it!
Our class is also grappling with black women and cultural canons: Beyonce next to Dylan and co., Julie Dash's place amongst more celebrated filmmakers, and now Instapoets next to traditional writers. All this makes me long for the day when we lit snobs can fully celebrate women like Shire, who have truly democratized a long-lofty art form. Sadly, at least for me, it is *not* today.