After her New York Times Bestseller "Milk and Honey," Rupi Kaur released her second book of poetry "The Sun and Her Flowers." "Milk and Honey" took the nation by storm as a rare book of poetry to gain such instant and widespread popularity. Her second book will surely challenge the popularity of even her first book.
"The Sun and Her Flowers" is divided into five separate sections: Wilting, Falling, Rooting, Rising, and Blooming. Much of the book is comprised of her traditional short style of poetry with the inclusion of a few pages-long poems that read a bit more like narrative poetry. I’ve always been a fan of her short, choppy style and I wasn’t certain about the longer poems at first, but Kaur uses them sparingly and only on important moments in her life and on important realizations that she has had.
The first section — Wilting — is the perfect thing for someone going through a breakup. It follows Kaur’s emotions through getting dumped and watching her ex move on with someone else. It’s entirely too relatable and perfectly captures the feelings of being lost without them.
The next section — Falling — further explores those feelings and accurately depicts what someone in that predicament would be going through. It’s also focused more on her own self-image and how that relates to who she is as a person.
The next section — Rooting — focuses on why she is who she is and where she came from. It had some incredibly touching parts focused on her mother and the life she lived and the life that Kaur wishes she would have lived. It also discusses some of the ever-present conflicts surrounding immigration. This section is so much a commentary on her life and the world around her.
The next section — Rising — follows her journey into a new relationship. Even though I am single as the day is long, this section was especially powerful. She spoke a lot of how to navigate a new relationship after being hurt and after a while of not being in one. This was probably the section that spoke the most to me. It was so hopeful and uplifting.
The final section — Blooming — did just that. It was the bloomed sunflower at the end of a long journey. The poetry here focused on loving and accepting yourself for who you are and where you come from. It’s lovely and inspiring and really puts a mirror to your face to show you the wonderful person staring back.
"The Sun and Her Flowers" may have been even better than "Milk and Honey." I am incredibly excited to see what else Kaur has up her sleeve.