Warsan Shire's poem shows the funhouse-mirror-like effects that trauma can have on memory; certain sections of her poem blister viscerally and others lack detail or background information, making them impossible to grasp hold of, seeming more like dreams than real events.
This is not just a literary technique; it may be a topography of what the memories of a person who has experienced trauma or abuse look like. Science has shown that after traumatic experiences, many people block out or distort the memories of what happened to them, making it difficult for them to remember the exact details of what happened even if they wanted to. A study by NICABM (National Institute for the Clinical Application of Behavioral Medicine) focused on the effects trauma has on four different types of memory—semantic, episodic, emotional, and procedural. Semantic memory, or the memory of general knowledge and facts, can be compromised by trauma, with details and information being lost easily. Trauma can affect episodic memory by fragmenting the linearity of events, making it difficult to remember where and when one was when events occurred. Emotional memory can be affected by trauma when certain events in the present bring back certain emotions experienced during past traumas. Procedural memory, or the ability to automatically perform tasks like riding a bicycle, can be compromised when trauma forces people to unconsciously alter their behavior in order to avoid memories of trauma.
Memory can manifest itself in the body, too. The idea of "body memory" proposes that the body has the ability to retain clear memories, just like the mind. Often referred to as "implicit memory," this type of memory does not always appear in the conscious mind. However, this idea has been challenged by skeptics who claim that it is easy for the mind to conjure false memories and label them as body memories, given the fundamentally obscure nature of memories that exist only in the unconscious, on the flesh instead of in the mind.
Shire's "The House" emphasizes the power of body memory; the fact that the speaker feels she keeps former lovers locked inside of her, and that she cannot find them, is a way of her saying that former lovers and former traumatic events exist in and influence her unconscious mind. The poem's warped structure, then, is a way of reflecting the non-linear structure of the unconscious.
