I had seen bits of Rupi Kaur’s poetry floating around the internet for a while but hadn’t paid much attention until I saw a few people reference her book, Milk and Honey, and it went straight onto my to-read list.
Poetry isn’t exactly a mainstream form of
expression or reading, and it has a muddled reputation and reception with all
generations, but surprisingly the digital age seems to be making poetry relevant, ‘cool’ and ‘consumable’
again. You only have to scroll through #poetryisnotdead on Instagram to see
that. In fact, it’s through mediums such as Instagram that Rupi Kaur has built
up such a large audience and awareness of her own poetry.
I’m a strong believer that you only need to
find the right style of poetry, the kind that speaks to you, to get it and appreciate
it, in the same way as any genre of book or music. People consume poetry
through lyrics on a daily basis without ever realising that’s what they’re
doing. And I think that’s what the likes of Kaur manage to do with the
simplicity and brutal honesty of their poetry; it’s relatable and real and not
clouded behind elaborate metaphor or archaic syntax.
I took Milk and Honey on a long train journey,
with the intention of reading a little before writing some blog posts. A few
hours later I had read the whole thing in one sitting, and immediately wrote
the scraps of four or five of my own poems into the notes of my phone, some of
which you might have already seen appearing on my Instagram or Facebook page.
Although starting an ‘art journal’ and throwing
myself back into poetry writing had been one of my goals for this year anyway,
Milk and Honey pushed me into actually making these steps. I’ve got a full blog
post in the making on this process and what I’ve created thus far, so keep an
eye out for that.
The blurb on the back of Milk and Honey
perfectly encapsulates Rupi Kaur’s style of writing and what the collection of
poetry is about:
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
These final four lines are the titles of each
section of the book, providing an overarching narrative journey, a journey of self-discovery
and every significant moment along the way. The poems that fill these sections
are predominantly short, but always sincere. Kaur holds nothing back; there is
no mystery in her poems, but each one captures a seemingly familiar thought or
feeling with such an exquisitely satisfying and unique expression. Every other
poem or so is illustrated with a simple line drawing, to accompany or offer a
new level to the words on the page. The illustrations are not composed of
clear-cut or defined lines, they are messy and imprecise, existing in the same imperfect
but real dimension as the sentiment they exemplify.
Rupi Kaur tackles all kinds of issues with her
poetry, from growing up and broken families to love and heartbreak, gender and
race, before finishing with a healing full of wisdom and lessons learned. You
can read the collection from start to finish, tracing your own journey over the
words on the page, or you can pick it up from time to time, letting the book
fall open on a new page, and taking a journey into that one poem, exploring
that one expression to its full depth.
Whether you’re a regular poetry reader, someone
who dives in from time to time, or if the thought of poetry makes your insides
curl up in revolt, I would recommend picking up Milk and Honey. I have no doubt
that it will remain on my bedside table for a very long time.
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