“Milk and Honey” is a collection of poetry written by the amazing Rupi Kaur. She’s a writer and artist from Toronto, Canada. Through her writing she shows love, loss, trauma, healing, and femininity. The book was first self-published in November 2014, then soon after, the book was a hit reaching to be on North Americas bestseller charts. The book is split into four chapters each dealing with love, loss, trauma, abuse, healing, and femininity. Like the book says “it takes readers through a journey of the most bitter moments in life and finds sweetness in them because there is sweetness everywhere of you are just willing to look." (Kaur) So, here are some of my favorite poems from the book that are helping me find sweetness in situations. The hurting, the loving, the breaking and the healing.
Part One:
Page. 18
"she was a rose
in the hands of those
who had no intention
Of keeping her"
Page. 21
"if i knew what
safety looked like
i would have spent
less time falling into
Arms that were not"
Page. 23
"the idea that we are
so capable of love
but still choose
to be toxic"
Page. 27
"you have sadness
living in places
sadness shouldn’t live"
Part Two:
Page. 52
"you are the faith line
between faith and
blindly waiting"
~letter to my future lover
Page. 55
"i am learning
how to love him
by loving myself"
Page. 59
"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"
Page. 60
"love will come
and when love comes
love will call your name
and you will melt
sometimes though
love will hurt you
love will never mean to
love will play no game
cause love knows life
has been hard enough already"
Page. 63
"you might not have been my first love
but you were the love that made
all the other loves
Irrelevant"
Page. 74
"i need someone
who knows the struggle
As well as i do
someone
willing to hold my feet in their lap
on days it it too difficult to stand
the type of person who gives
exactly what i need
before i even know i need it
the type of lover who hears me
even when i do not speak
is the type of understanding
i demand"
~the type of lover i need
Part Three
Page. 81
"i always
get myself
into this mess
i always let him
tell me i am beautiful
And half believe it
i always jump thinking
he will catch me
at the fall
i am hopelessly
a lover and
a dreamer and
that will be the
death of me"
Page. 85
"don’t mistake
salt for sugar
if he wants to
be with you
he will
It’s that simple"
Page. 86
"he only whispers "i love you"
as he slips his hands
down the waistband
of your pants
this is where you must
understand the difference
between want and need
you may want that boy
but you certainly
don’t need him"
Page. 89
"the next time you
have your coffee black
you’ll taste the bitter
state he left you in
it will make you weep
but you’ll never
stop drinking
you’d rather have the
darkest parts of him
than have nothing"
Page. 95
"i didn’t leave because
i stopped loving you
i left because the longer
i stayed the less
i loved myself"
Page. 100
"i am a museum full of art
but you had your eyes shut"
Page. 102
"the things
worth holding on to
Would not have let go"
Page. 103
"when you are broken
and he has left you
do not question
whether you were
enough
the problem was
you were so enough
he was not able to carry it"
Page. 106
"you treat them like they
have a heart like yours
but not everyone can be as
soft and as tender
you don’t see the
person they are
you see the person
they have the potential to be
you give and give till
they pull everything out of you
and leave you empty"
Page. 125
"i don’t know why
i split myself open
for others knowing
sewing myself up
hurts this much
afterward"
Page. 137
"i am water
soft enough
to offer life
tough enough
to drown it away"
Part Four:
Page. 149
"do not bother holding on to
that things that does not want you"
~you cannot make it stay
Page. 150
"you must enter a relationship
with yourself
before anyone else"
Page. 151
"accept that you deserve more
than painful love
life is moving
the healthiest thing
for your heart is
to move with it"
Page. 153
"loneliness is a sign you are in desperate need of yourself"
Page. 154
"who tricked you
into believing
another person
was meant to complete you
when the most they can do is complement"
Page. 156
"if you were born with
the weakness to fall
you were born with
the strength to rise"
Page. 158
"stay strong through your pain
grow flowers from it
you have helped me
grow flowers out of mine so
bloom beautifully
dangerously
loudly
bloom softly
however you need
just bloom"
~to the reader
Page. 161
"fall
in love
with your solitude"
Page. 165
"the next time he
points out the
hair on your legs is
growing back remind
that boy your body
is not his home
he is a guest
warn him to
never outstep
his welcome
again"
Page. 169
"i like the way the stretch marks
on my thighs look human and
that we’re so soft yet
rough and jungle wild
when we need to be
i love that about us
how capable we are of feeling
how unafraid we are of breaking
and tend to our wounds with grace
just being a women
calling myself
a women
makes me utterly whole
and complete"
Page. 171
"our backs
tell stories
no books have
the spine to
carry"
~ women of color
Page. 172
"accept yourself
as you were designed"
Page. 174
"losing you
was the becoming
of myself"
Page. 182
"if the hurt comes
so will the happiness"
Page. 183
"we are all born
so beautiful
the greatest tragedy is
being convinced we are not"
Page. 185
"the world
gives you
so much pain
and here you are
making gold out of it"
~ there is nothing purer than that
Page. 186
"how you love yourself is
how you teach others
to love you"
Page. 189
"you
are your own
soul mate"
Page. 197
"if you are not enough for yourself
you will never be enough
for someone else"
Page. 198
"you must
want to spend
the rest of your life
with yourself
first"
Page. 203
"give to those
who have nothing
to give to you"
~seva (selfless service)
Credit goes to the amazing Rupi Kaur for her amazing writing skills. If you like to learn more about her and her book "Milk and Honey," here's a list of all her social media.
Website: https://www.rupikaur.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rupikaur_/?hl=en
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rupikaurpoetry/?fref=ts
Twitter: https://twitter.com/rupikaur_
