Face it. You've watched Beyonce's Lemonade approximately 4,387 times now.
You know all the words to the spoken part by now, but do you know the woman behind them?Warsan Shire adapted some of her poetry of Beyonce's magnum opus. The London-based poet has been writing for much of her 27 years. And because you just can't get enough of Shire's work, here's five quotes from some of her work.
1. "you are a horse running alone
and he tries to tame you
compares you to an impossible highway
to a burning house
says you are blinding him
that he could never leave you
forget you
want anything but you"
This is from Shire's poem "For Women Who are 'Difficult to Love.'" More of this poem is found in Lemonade.
2. “later that night
i held an atlas in my lap
ran my fingers across the whole world
and whispered
where does it hurt?
it answered
everywhere
everywhere
everywhere.”
This is a quote that revolves around Tumblr often as some quirky handwriting on a map but it doesn't make it any less poignant.
3. “With you, intimacy colours my voice.
even ‘hello’ sounds like ‘come here'.”
Are you swooning yet?
4. “make love
like you have no
secrets
like you’ve
never been
left
never been
hurt
like the world
don’t owe you a
single
wretched
thing.”
Great advice in
short
quick
spurts.
5. “give your daughters difficult names. give your daughters names that command the full use of tongue. my name makes you want to tell me the truth. my name doesn’t allow me to trust anyone that cannot pronounce it right.”
In an interview with Well & Often, Shire said her first name means “good news” and Shire means “to gather in one place."
Follow Shire on Twitter and read her collection "Teaching My Mother How to Give Birth."
