milk and honey

Book (Poetry), 2014

Premise - A book of semi-autobiographical poems by Rupi Kaur. Written without punctuation or capitalization in honor of her native language, Rupi's poems are short and minimalistic. The book is divided into four parts representing a chronological tale of her own life - the hurting, the loving, the breaking, and the healing.

Review - Yet another choice from Emma Watson's book club Our Shared Shelf! This one is actual from this month as I'm writing this (July/August 2018), which is my first time reading one of her choices alongside others. I have been going out of order, but I spotted this book for sale at my local Target and it was just so aesthetically appealing I just had to purchase it.

I have never been a huge poetry fan. I like poetry, for certain, but because I have such a strong predilection for longer narratives, poetry is a medium that I'm very familiar with in an academic context but seldom seek out my self. In an academic context, what drew me to poetry was the ability to thoroughly analyze and unpack a short space of text. I loved dissecting every single word: searching for literary devices, rhyming patterns, and meter. Rupi Kaur's poetry, however, does not provide much opportunity for this. Her poems are typically free verse, incredibly simplistic, with highly overt meaning. The messages she wishes to convey are incredibly direct. Therefore, to me, much of her work felt less like poetry, and more like a series of short proverbs to live by. The line breaks in her poetry were more for aesthetic appeal.

Does this mean that I felt as though the book was valueless? Absolutely not. I think what is appealing about this book is that it makes poetry highly accessible for a number of individuals, even if English is not their first language. The content matter is uncomfortable, but the writing is so easy to understand. I was able to read this in one sitting no problem, and Emma Watson said something very similar when she first announced this book as her next choice read. For an academic who has taken advanced courses in poetry, yeah, I was a little unimpressed from a literary standpoint. But speaking as an everyday reader who just likes to consume as much written word as possible, I still got a great deal of an emotional response from this. Some of the poems I am saving for reference, for certain. Especially her poem about how important it is to write art the way you want to write it, not in the way that is best accepted or most relatable to others.

Many of the poems are about romance, love, lust, and sexuality. This is what makes it such an important read for men and women alike, to understand female pleasure and lack thereof. For me, it made the poetry less relatable because I haven't had the passionate experiences she recounted. But for her, it made her poems incredibly honest. I will save this book on my shelf for a day I'm feeling particularly emotional or romantic. (70/100)

Quote - (Selected poems)

"i know the small talk is the only way you know how to tell me you love me. cause it is the only way i know how to tell you."

"i do not want to have you
to fill the empty parts of me
i want to be full on my own
i want to be so complete
i could light a whole city
and then
i want to have you
cause the two of us combined
could set it on fire"

"i am a museum full of art
but you had your eyes shut"

"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"

"how can our love die
if it's written
in these pages"

"loneliness is a sign you are in desperate need of yourself"

"just being a woman
calling myself
a woman
makes me utterly whole
and complete"

"your art
is not about how many people
like your work
your art
is about
if your heart likes your work
if your soul likes your work
it's about how honest
you are with yourself
and you
must never
trade honesty
for relatability"

What to look for - Many of the poems are accompanied by minimalistic drawings. I found out afterwards that these were drawn by Rupi herself!

If you liked this book, I'd recommend Heart Berries! Although I wasn't much of a fan of Heart Berries myself, but it's in a similar vein.

Written by Rupi Kaur
Published by Andrew McMeels Publishing