Teaching My Mother How to Give Birth Summary
Warsan Shire

Teaching My Mother How to Give Birth Overview

Teaching My Mother How to Give Birth by Warsan Shire is a compact and powerful collection of poems exploring womanhood, war, displacement, home, and survival. Shire weaves stories of women who have faced violence, betrayal, and hardship, and her poems speak of the resiliency of mothers and children. She focuses on the marginalized: refugees, migrants, women of African and Middle Eastern descent. While the women portrayed in her poems differ, they all share a wisdom and strength that is at times inspiring, and at others, tragic. Shire's language is humble and accessible, but this does not take away from the collection's depth or power.