The theme of girlhood progresses in the next poem, "Things We Had Lost in the Summer," which describes a reunion between cousins who were separated for years, and the way they changed. She learns that the man goes on to rape women during the war, introducing the topic of war and violence against women. "Your Mother's First Kiss" follows a mother whose first sexual experience was nonconsensual, but resulted in her having the man's child. These themes continue to develop as the book progresses. This furthers the theme of broken relationships, and also orients the book from a female perspective. The first poem is "What Your Mother Told You After Your Father Left," a short piece about a woman who put her faith in God to keep her lover with her, but who was ultimately abandoned. This is a brief introduction to the rest of the work, and it serves to ease the reader in to the following poems. This line introduces the themes of broken relationships, the effect of a child's parents, and the power of physical appearances. Teaching My Mother How to Give Birth opens with an italicized line on an otherwise blank page: "I have my mother's mouth and my father's eyes on my face they are still together" (6).
Mouthmark Series, by Flipped Eye Publishing, 2011.
The following version of this book was used to create this guide: Shire, Warsan.
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