Better in Education - UK

Today’s poem is called ‘Love Excels’.

'Home' by Warsan Shire

This is one of those poems that got me. It resonated with me at some deep level and it made me so angry.
Now, more than ever, we must learn to understand each other. We are a global civilisation and we must keep the borders open and encourage diversity, and, as Gunther Kress says, we will be able to use that diversity to add to our resources.
These are all people, people like you and me.
Literature allows us to understand people, all people, in so many ways. This poem allowed me to understand people just that little bit better.

Home by Warsan Shire

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

your neighbors running faster than you

breath bloody in their throats
the boy you went to school with
who kissed you dizzy behind the old tin factory
is holding a gun bigger than his body
you only leave home
when home won’t let you stay.

no one leaves home unless home chases you
fire under feet
hot blood in your belly
it’s not something you ever thought of doing
until the blade burnt threats into
your neck
and even then you carried the anthem under
your breath
only tearing up your passport in an airport toilet
sobbing as each mouthful of paper
made it clear that you wouldn’t be going back.

you have to understand,
that no one puts their children in a boat
unless the water is safer than the land
no one burns their palms
under trains
beneath carriages
no one spends days and nights in the stomach of a truck
feeding on newspaper unless the miles travelled
means something more than journey.
no one crawls under fences
no one wants to be beaten
pitied

no one chooses refugee camps
or strip searches where your
body is left aching
or prison,
because prison is safer
than a city of fire
and one prison guard
in the night
is better than a truckload
of men who look like your father
no one could take it
no one could stomach it
no one skin would be tough enough

the
go home blacks
refugees
dirty immigrants
asylum seekers
sucking our country dry
ni***rs with their hands out
they smell strange
savage
messed up their country and now they want
to mess ours up
how do the words
the dirty looks
roll off your backs
maybe because the blow is softer
than a limb torn off

or the words are more tender
than fourteen men between
your legs
or the insults are easier
to swallow
than rubble
than bone
than your child body
in pieces.
i want to go home,
but home is the mouth of a shark
home is the barrel of the gun
and no one would leave home
unless home chased you to the shore
unless home told you
to quicken your legs
leave your clothes behind
crawl through the desert
wade through the oceans
drown
save
be hunger
beg
forget pride
your survival is more important

no one leaves home until home is a sweaty voice in your ear
saying-
leave,
run away from me now
i dont know what i’ve become
but i know that anywhere
is safer than here

"Home" by Warsan Shire British-Somali poet Warsan Shire gives voice to the experiences of refugees in this poem about "home."

Happy halloween!

Loving this Library Pumpkin made by the awesome staff at Truro Public Library!

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(Pinterest)

Check out our nine book suggestions for children ages 7-12 this ! Reading together for just 10 minutes everyday helps to give little ones the best start in life.

Explore all our resources for Black History Month: https://literacytrust.org.uk/resources/black-british-book-map/

For anyone who is still confused about what constitutes a vowel, here's a clear description! 😆
Have you ever tried writing a univocalism using only one vowel (and not the Y because, as shown here, it can imitate vowel sounds)? If not, give it a go! It's great fun and a good challenge. I've written a few. You also start to spot univocalisms everywhere you go! How many can you find in this post? 😁

👻👻👻👻😱😱😱😱

Today’s poem is called ‘The Incidence of Oxymorons’.

Today’s poem is called ‘Hear, They’re and Everywear’.

Today’s poem is called ‘Thou Shalt Not Commit Adulting’.

Spaces for GCSE English and Maths tuition available at our Monday workshops. Affordable. Fun. Focused.

5 years of BETTER in Education and 10 years of tutoring- that must be cause for some celebration, right? So let's 'shellebrate'
I still absolutely love this job.
All my students passed this year, and, much more importantly, they have all grown so much in their ability to play with language and to make meaning. It's the greatest pleasure to listen to my students and read what they've written. They might say they're no poet, but some of their writing- when they unlock that bit of imagination - is absolutely magical and most definitely poetic! It is a privilege to read and listen to their work.

📸: Jelly Armchair, if you haven't heard of them go check them out for the most incredible puns on cards!