When I first opened up one of Rupi Kaur’s poem books, I really didn’t know what to expect. I sure didn’t expect to be rocked to my core the way that I was when reading some of the most relevant, relatable poems I had ever seen. Rupi Kaur is a woman poet originally from Punjab, India. Her work showcases a unique style with no uppercase letters and no punctuation expect periods, which she says is in honor of her mother language— Punjabi.
Rupi Kaur often talks about how growing up she didn’t see enough representation in the literature that she could relate to and wanted to change that for future generations. Her work is a statement of the traumas that she, her mother, and generations of women before them have experienced. It even touches on sexuality and abuse, which is a subject not often spoken about in cultures such as India and the Punjabi region. Many women aren’t even born due to female feticide and if they are born, face a constant pressure to be conservative and give their bodies over as men please.
While some of her poems are truly tough to read, so many of them have hit home for numerous people, especially women, including myself. So, I have listed some of her most popular poems for you to enjoy on a variety of different topics.
- About the emptiness of women:
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- About the beauty in the color of your skin:
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- About the dilemma between wanting to grow up and wishing we could go back:
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- About the beauty of writing:
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- About learning to be content with yourself:
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- About being an immigrant:
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- About remembering that women aren’t just their looks:
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- About the power a single person’s name can have:
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- About the math of the universe:
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- About a woman’s freedom to do with her body as she pleases:
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- About rape and consent:
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- About what love is meant to be:
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- About the double standards of a woman’s body:
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- About joy after sorrow:
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This is only a list of 14 of the thousands and thousands of beautiful, touching, heart-wrenching poems that Rupi Kaur has blessed the world with. As you can see, she writes about so many important topics that many others are afraid to discuss, but her relevance and realness is what makes her shine so bright. You go, girl!