Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur

Title: Milk and Honey

Author: Rupi Kaur

Genre: Poetry

Publisher: Andrew McMeel Publishing

Publication Year: 2014

Language: English

Blurb

my heart woke me crying last night

how can i help i begged

my heart said

write the book

~Rupi Kaur

Rupi Kaur’s Milk and Honey is a poetry collection that features the best kind of poetry there is.

Simple. Profound. Relatable.

Like the four seasons of the year, Milk and Honey is divided into four emotional sections. Each section captures a different feel and indulges the reader a smooth transition from one emotional train into another.

Summary

Milk and Honey especially pirouettes through strong, powerful themes: love, loss, violence, and femininity. It runs across four sections that intertwines a number of the mentioned themes. Those sections are:

• The Hurting
• The Loving
• The Breaking
• The Healing

The Hurting

every time you

tell your daughter

you yell at her

out of love

you teach her to confuse

anger with kindness

which seems like a good idea

till she grows up to

trust men who hurt her

cause they look so much

like you

– to fathers with daughters (Rupi)

This section of the book depicts what it’s like to be locked in a pseudo expression of love. It feels much like winter. Cold, dark, fuzzy with pain. It opens the readers to how hurt can exist in subtle and inconspicuous ways. It especially focuses on the physical hurt that women go through, the pain that stems from home, from family, and extends to the rest of the world.

 What is it like to be hurting? Rupi Kaur gives us a peep into the answer in this section.

The Loving

The loving dances around the beautiful colours of love. The author brushes on the magic in loving someone else without losing touch with oneself.

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

~Rupi

It is only when we’re whole that we can truly love another completely. We are not made to lean weakly on each other but to be a powerful force in our own right.

The Breaking

you were not wrong for leaving

you were wrong for coming back

and thinking

you could have me

when it was convenient

and leave when it was not

~Rupi

The breaking feels like autumn. The time after sunshine and rainbows. When all of the butterflies are gone and all that’s left is a tale of two exes. Ever slowly, love withers into hate and dust gathers on tender emotions.

the way they

leave

tells you

everything

~Rupi Kaur

The Healing

The healing feels like spring. When love is gone and life goes wrong, all that’s still left is love.

you must enter a relationship

with yourself

before anyone else

~Rupi Kaur

In this section of the book, the author captures the importance of self-love.

Loving someone else begins with loving yourself, with accepting yourself for all your weaknesses and strengths. It begins with looking into the mirror and seeing yourself as beautiful. It does not lie in the validation that extends from someone else. Not from the smoothness of their words. Not from the tightness of their abs or the swaying of their waists. It springs from within.

you are in the habit

of co-depending

on people to

make up for what

you think you lack

who tricked you

into believing

another person

was meant to complete you

when the most they can do is complement

~Rupi Kaur

Milk and Honey is a deeply impactful and emotional book that everyone in love, hurting and going through heartbreak should read.