Her Blue Body Full of Light By Warsan Shire (Grades 4-6)

Warsan Shire is a Somali British writer and poet born in Nairobi and raised in London. She was awarded the inaugural Brunel International African Poetry Prize and served as the first Young Poet Laureate of London. She is the youngest member of the Royal Society of Literature and is included in the Penguin Modern Poets series. Her Blue Body Full of Light is found in Warsan's collection of work Her Blue Body that explores the complexities in liife including heritage, cultural sensitivity, trauma and womanhood. This poem, through imagery, explores the impact of cancer. Mirroring the first poem in the collection, Her Blue Body Full of Light ends off the collection, a final testamony to friendship and loss.