At the end of the day, it isn’t where I came from. Maybe home is somewhere I’m going and never have been before.

You are terrifying, and strange, and beautiful. Something not everyone knows how to love.

I belong deeply to myself.

Warsan means "good news" and Shire means "to gather in one place". My parents named me after my father's mother, my grandmother. Growing up, I absolutely wanted a name that was easier to pronounce, more common, prettier. But then I grew up and understood the power of a name, the beauty that comes in understanding how your name has affected who you are.

My heart is a flower blossoming out of my mouth.

I think in Somali, I cuss in Somali, when I'm afraid I reach for somali and this language is very rich, very filling. It's an unflinching language; the crudest most terrible things sound perfectly normal in Somali.

I am a lover without a lover. I am lovely and lonely and I belong deeply to myself.