Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head

The commanding debut from Shire captures the loneliness of migration in crystalline language punctuated by the menace of patriarchal violence. In the collection's strongest piece, "Home," Shire, who is a British writer born to Somali parents in Kenya, writes vividly of impossible choices made by people forced to migrate: "No one leaves home unless home is the mouth of a shark. You only run for the border when you see the whole city running as well." While this poem makes a strong political statement, it is also deeply personal, evoking the ways in which one's sense of self can be lost: "My beauty is not beauty here. My body is burning/ with the shame of not belonging, my body is longing." Elsewhere, the speaker's religion and perceived foreignness rob her of intimacy and companionship: "Love is not haram but after years of fucking/ women who are unable to pronounce your name,/ you find yourself totally alone." The collection is haunted by those who did not survive migration: "If the moon was Europe, my father was an astronaut who died on his/ way to the moon." Shire's assured voice teems with righteous fury, tempered by rich language to create a memorable and powerful book. (Mar.)