"Milk and Honey" by Rupi Kaur has easily become one of my favorite books. The way that she encompasses womanhood, loving, and hurting so well is a concept I will never quite grasp. For my article this week I have compiled my favorites, and ranked them 1-10.

1.

you tell me to quiet down cause

my opinions make me less beautiful

but i was not made with a fire in my belly

so i could be put out

i was not made with a lightness on my tongue

so i could be easy to swallow

i was made heavy

half blade and half silk

difficult to forget and not easy

for the mind to follow

2.

i know i

should crumble

for better reasons

but have you seen

that boy he brings

the sun to its

knees every

night

3.

no

it won't

be love at

first sight when

we meet it'll be love

at first remembrance cause

i've seen you in my mother's eyes

when she tells meto marry the type

of man i'd raise my son to be like

4.

i struggle so deeply

to understand

how someone can

pour their entire soul

blood and energy

into someone

without wanting

anything in

return

-i'll have to wait till i'm a mother

5.

how is it so easy for you

to be kind to people he asked

milk and honey dripped

from my lips as i answered

cause people have not

been kind to me

6.

she was a rose

in the hands of those

who had no intention

of keeping her

7.

when my mother was pregnant

with her second child i was four

i pointed at her swollen belly confused at how

my mother had gotten so big in such little time

my father scooped me up in his tree trunk arms and

said the closest thing to god on this earth

is a woman's body it's where life comes from

and to have a grown man tell me something

so powerful at such a young age

changed me to see the entire universe

rested at my mother's feet

8.

every revolution

starts and ends

with his lips

9.

don't mistake

salt for sugar

if he wants to

be with you

he will

it's that simple

10.

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