“every revolution

starts and ends

with his lips”

milk and honey is the self defined journey of Rupi Kaur. She speaks of her emotional learning process through her gut-wrenching poems. Kaur takes you through the four life stages of her life thus far, teaching you, through her own struggle, how to be yourself. It is a journey of hurting, loving, breaking and healing.

This poetry brings back the days when reading Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau was considered cool; poetry is more relatable than ever. Each poem wroughts emotion that you never thought possible. Kaur’s experiences are not the same as yours, but her poetry makes it seem like you have experienced similar things. The poems are approachable and short, making this novel an easy read.

milk and honey is quick, easy and, initially, heart breaking. This novel is best read in four separate chunks so you can feel the full weight of Kaur’s emotions. You want to be able remember her words, so taking breaks helps solidify what she goes through and how it affects you.

Kaur’s struggles become your struggles as you apply all of her feelings to the situations you’ve been in and how they have made you feel. She uses ethos to make you feel her emotion as she breaks, bends and relies on finding a love that is different than her patriarchal upbringing. You break and bend with her as you relate to how hard first love can be. The world can be a cruel place, as you know all too well, and Kaur shows you that you can be different from societal stigmas without letting the world break you.

Read this novel and it will change your perspective. Read how the metamorphosis of Rupi Kaur changed her and how she became someone she can love. Read about how heartbreak and hurt can make you into someone who you love and who doesn’t need to rely on someone else to be happy.

Write your own poetry. Be happy. Read others journeys through the struggles of self love and learn from their mistakes as well as your own.

“how you love yourself is

how you teach others

to love you”

 

Veronica Finniss is a senior double majoring in professional writing and history. She enjoys binge reading and suffocating under mounds of homework. When she isn’t dying, she loves petting dogs on the street and eating sandwiches, burgers and carbs.

 

Tags: book of the month, milk and honey, poetry, READing, Veronica Finniss