The most poetic thing I've read since been forced to read poetry in a drama or English class was probably some Taylor Swift lyrics, if I'm honest. I don't typically like poetry, but I read this entire book in one sitting. "Milk and Honey" is divided into four sections: the hurting, the loving, the breaking and the healing. The topics are really heavy from the start, with pages on child molestation, rape, abuse, family conflicts, heartbreak and desperation. As the book goes on, there are poems of healing, hope, love and strength. It was intense and beautiful as a whole, but I chose to highlight 10 quotes that stuck with me.
1. Emotions:
"I don't know what living a balanced life feels like.
When I am sad
I don't cry I pour
When I am happy
I don't smile I glow
When I am angry
I don't yell I burn...
When my heart is broken
I don't grieve
I shatter."
2. Love:
"You may not have been my first love
But you were the love that made
all the other loves
irrelevant."
3. Heartbreak:
"I will not have you
Build me into your life
When
What I want is to
Build a life with you."
4. Writing
"The thing about writing is
I can't tell if it's healing
Or destroying me."
5. Persistence
"If you were born with
The weakness to fall
You were born with
The strength to rise."
6. Race
"Our backs
Tell stories
No books have
The spine to
Carry.
-Women of Color"
7. Self-love
"Accept yourself
As you were designed."
8. Priorities
"At the end of the day all this
Means nothing.
This page
Where you're sitting
Your degree
Your job
The money
Nothing even matters
Except love and human connection..."
9. Support
"Our struggle to
Celebrate each other is
What's proven most difficult
In being human."
10. Art
"...and you
Must never
Trade honesty
for relatability."
