the sun and her flowers

 

Book (Poetry), 2017

Premise - A sequel to the best-selling poetry collection milk and honey, Rupi Kaur continues to write simple and stylistic all-lowercase, personal poems and illustrations about love and bodies, this time also speaking to the issues of culture and immigration. The poems are organized into five parts surrounding the life cycle of a flower - wilting, falling, rooting, rising, and blooming.

Review - I had originally not only read milk and honey for Our Shared Shelf, but also bought myself a copy so it could sit on my bookcase. I didn't plan on buying it - I just spotted it in a Target, thought, "gosh it looks so pretty; I can't resist" and then here we are. Similarly, I actually bought myself a copy of this book spontaneously from a Fuego. The high you get from purchasing is probably better than that received while reading the poems themselves, because they really aren't all that profound.

I've already said my piece on Rupi Kaur when I reviewed milk and honey, but in sum, I like how she makes poetry easy, accessible, and appealing to the masses. But I don't think it's particularly well suited for me because it requires little to no brain power. The entire book takes about a half hour to read (is that worth a $14.99 purchase?) and out of this entire book, I bookmarked maybe 2-3 couple word poems to save for myself. The ones I found myself bookmarking were clever, metaphorical, and original. Many of the poems she writes, however, are too literal and cliche.

Literal is courageous, however, considering how personal these poems are. The poems are less universal disguises and more of a straightforward autobiography. I feel like her poems don't put up a mirror to society, like most, but straight to her own face. As a result, her poems deal with the trauma of rape, body dissatisfaction, and immigration that are emotionally beyond my own life, but very, very powerful to read about hers.

Especially in the earlier chapters, these poems are scary DARK and depressing. And my heart goes out to anyone who reads some of those early poems (i.e. the ones in "wilting") and think to themselves, "Ugh... mood." Because that's heartbreaking. Especially for the breakup poems, I found myself not only unable to truly relate, but feeling guilty for often being the dumper instead of the dumpee. Despite the fact that the poems were so dark and sad, I also found myself feeling a bit... jealous? The depth of emotions she is able to experience is profound.

I read for the simple aesthetic. The little illustrations put me at peace. But I don't read for much more depth than that. (69/100)

Quote - 

“yesterday
the rain tried to imitate my hands
by running down your body
i ripped the sky apart for allowing it

-jealousy” 

This was one of the first poems in the book, the first I bookmarked, and one of the only. And it still sticks with me. This is what I mean by original writing.

Written by Rupi Kaur

Published by Andrews McMeel