I usually hate poetry, but I don’t hate this book.
Last year my friend introduced me to the book milk and honey by Rupi Kaur. Before this book, I would never have pictured myself sitting down and actually reading poetry for fun but I just found this book so inspiring I couldn’t bring myself to put it down. milk and honey is meant to be a reflection of Kaur’s heart and the journey that it has been through, and is still going through. For this reason, the book is broken up into four sections: the hurting, the loving, the breaking, the healing. Kaur’s ability to convey emotion through words is breathtaking and the illustrations accompanying them are so simple and yet so powerful and moving. I highly recommend this book to anyone and everyone who needs some words of encouragement right now. And even if you don’t I still think this book is a great one to have handy because we all have those days.
The introduction to the book reads, “my heart woke me crying last night, how can i help i begged, my heart said, write the book”
These are some of my favorite quotes from each section:
the hurting
“You were so afraid of my voice i decided to be afraid of it too”
“You pinned my legs to the ground with your feet and demanded i stand up”
the loving
“love will come and when love comes love will hold you. love will call your name and you will melt. sometimes though love will hurt you but love will never mean to. love will play no games cause love knows life has been hard already”
the breaking
“i didn’t leave because i stopped loving you i left because the longer i stayed the less i loved myself”
“you musn’t have to make them want you they must want you themselves”
“when you are broken and he has left you do not question whether you were enough the problem was you were so enough he was not able to carry it”
“i had to leave i was tired of allowing you to make me feel less than whole”
“people go but how they left always stays”
the healing
“loneliness is a sign you are in desperate need of yourself”
“if you were born with the weakness to fall you were born with the strength to rise”
“i thank the universe for taking everything it has taken and giving to me everything it has given”
“the next time he points out the hair on your legs is growing back remind that boy your body is not his home, he is a guest, warn him to never outstep his welcome again”
“your body is a museum of natural disasters. can you grasp how stunning that is”
“other women’s bodies are not our battlegrounds”
“How you love yourself is how you teach others to love you”
“You are your own soulmate”
The thing about these poems is that no matter your background they are still relatable. I find myself picking up this book whenever I am feeling bad about myself because I find strength in its words. I especially love the healing section of the book because its poems are usually most beneficial to me in that moment. Not only does the book make me feel better about myself but it makes me appreciate all the beautiful women in my life and all across the world.
Kaur released a new poetry book titled the sun and her flowers in 2017. I have not gotten a chance to read it yet but if anyone does/has let me know how it is!