“Milk and Honey” By Rupi Kaur

Her words find their way inside of us. They creep into the cracks we don’t realize are open. And we can’t help but let them. Because inside us is their home: her poems tell the stories that live inside of us.

I discovered Rupi Kaur almost two years when my cousin reposted her poem “to fathers with daughters.” I was instantly hooked. To enter her Instagram page is to enter a world of love, loss, anger, culture, passion feminism, and hope. Today that page “rupikaur_” has over 200,000 followers. Since Rupi’s debut on social media in 2013, she has hosted multiple events from writing workshops to poetry readings. She has shared her work in New York London and California, Waterloo, and—of course—Vancouver. This is a very powerful feat to know this young Toronto woman’s writing is powerful enough to take her across the globe. What’s universal in a lot of poetry is the idea that we’re all a little broken. What’s special about Rupi’s poetry is that is not self-deprecating. It does not encourage you victimize yourself, rather it encourages you to address the parts that are “a little broken.”

I can still see her words. They dance inside my head.

Here is Rupi hard at work.

21-year-old Rupi Kaur is a Toronto born writer and artist. Rupi reveals that doing art was her “first love” before writing poems. As a young child, having parents who were very new to Canada, she did not have the many extravagant toys. What she did have, however, was paper and tools to create art. This is where her love began. Doing art was her therapy and her best most of expression. When her writing took full swing in 2013, however, she noticed herself shutting down in her art. It wasn’t until 2014 that she decided to mix the two and this became the birth of Rupi’s unique style. Simple etches of black ink framing lines of her poetry became her trademark. In November 2014, she released her first book filled with original poetry and illustrations titled “Milk and Honey.” The book was an instant success. It has become the #1 best seller on Amazon.com for the Poetry by Women section. This is a highly acclaimed spot as virtually every sellable poetry book ever published is in the running for the title. The book is divided into four chapters:  the hurting, the loving, the breaking, and the healing.

She has a very special way to her, this Rupi. With the simplest of words she strikes every tender spot inside of you. She’ll dig deep into the scars we pretend are healed. With careful words, she coats them with milk and honey.

Here is some of her art below: