Being heavily involved in literature and writing means, at the very least, two things: 1) it seems like you spend half of your life reading, and 2) you will never turn down an opportunity to spend time in a Barnes & Nobles. The latter, in my case, is excessively true. Bookstores seem to have a lure I just can’t resist and a charm I can’t escape until my friends get bored or hungry and have to drag me out.
However, on my latest trip, I found one book in particular I refused to leave without—a collection of poetry. And not just any poetry, short works in a linear timeline. They told one woman’s emotional excursion through trials and tribulations many women can relate to in some way. Her words moved me to tears.
Rupi Kaur’s Milk and Honey is not only one of my favorite collections, but it also has been a New York Times bestseller. For anyone who reads it, it’s not hard to see why. The author’s style of poetry has you feeling every drop of what she put into it. On the back cover, she describes her own work in a short poem:
this is the journey of
surviving through poetry
this is the blood sweat tears
of twenty-one years
this is my heart
in your hands
this is
the hurting
the loving
the breaking
the healing
Deep, right? Well, the poems within the pages will make you feel, even if you’re one of those people who claim to be cold-hearted and indifferent (especially you people).
Her works speak volumes on such topics as being a daughter, her mother and father, feeling empty and numb, sex, finding a lover, dealing with heartbreak, and more than anything, learning how to love herself in a world that seemed eager to tear her down. The life she portrays in her poems is one not lacking in sadness, but shows just how one can blossom from feeling vacant, from being low.
More than ever, knowing how to become better from a bad situation is important, especially to women transitioning from adolescence to adulthood. From negative to positive, every experience is of value, and a lesson can come from anywhere. The paramount point of this collection is that self-confidence and esteem are necessities to becoming happy in your own skin, and Rupi Kaur’s work exemplifies this.
So, if you’re between Netflix series, have a craving for a good new read, or even just want to fill some spare time, I highly recommend Milk and Honey. If you’re anything like me, you’ll appreciate it and maybe even feel like someone else understands you. If you’re not like me, you’ll probably still love it anyway.