Teaching My Mother How to Give Birth by Warsan Shire

Warsan Shire's poetry hit me like a wave the first time I read it. Her exploration of the refugee experience, womanhood, and belonging is both deeply personal and universally resonant.

Shire's work gained wider recognition when Beyoncé featured her poetry in Lemonade, but her chapbook stands powerfully on its own. Each poem is precise, devastating, and beautiful.

Favorite line: "No one leaves home unless home is the mouth of a shark."

Her ability to convey complex emotions about displacement and identity in just a few lines is a masterclass in economy of language.