Rupi Kaur’s milk and honey was self published in 2014, and then was picked up by Andrews McMeel publishing in 2015 after it became a bestseller. It’s a book of poetry, divided up into four chapters: "the hurting," "the loving," "the breaking," and "the healing." And through these four sections, across 204 pages, Kaur writes a story.
The book begins with “the hurting,” with poetry about the struggles and negative emotions she has felt and been taught to feel as a woman. From there she goes into “the loving,” with the elated feeling of falling in love with someone who she feels understands her, and the sensuality of it all. In the section “the breaking” we read about the end of said relationship, and the ride of emotions that comes with it. And “the healing” speaks not only of healing from a failed relationship, but about learning to love yourself. It is simply a story of breaking and putting oneself back together, and all of the emotions that are meant to go along with it.
Most people hate poetry because it’s typically abstract and hard to understand; milk and honey is not. The poems are simple and easy to understand — some of them are only two or three lines long. There is no puzzling around about what the poems are really about, because Kaur makes it clear. But the words Kaur writes can relate to almost every woman. There are so few poems that hint at a deeper meaning that you don’t need to worry about the hidden messages. These poems are meant to be taken at face value and loved for what they are, not what they’re supposed to mean.
Don’t just borrow this book from a local library or from a friend. Buy this book. Add it to your collection. Sit down with it and read it all in one sitting the first time around. Cry at the poems that make you sad, and bookmark the ones that resonate with you. Feel all of the feelings that this book is supposed to make you feel, and once you’ve turned the last page, set it down. But don’t just set it on a shelf to forget — take it with you, and reread it. You don’t need to read it again all at once (unless you think you can handle the emotional roller coaster again), but read it when you need it. Let the poems speak to you; they won’t all touch a chord within you, but the ones that do are the ones that matter.
Throughout the pages Kaur doesn’t just tell her story of “the blood sweat tears / of twenty-one years,” she empowers the readers through her book. This book is meant to encourage the women who read it — to teach them that women have been taught for years to be silent, but that we are so much more than they tell us to be; that we are more than what a man makes us out to be; and that above all we need to learn to love ourselves. You will not find that every poem speaks to you, and that’s okay, because they’re not all meant to. But the ones that do are what make the book worth reading.
Milk and honey speaks to every woman who reads it. Even if you don’t like poetry, buy this book and read it. Kaur’s words will stick with you long after you’ve finished your first read through; maybe they’ll even inspire you.
