Rupi Kaur: Milk and Honey

- 7 billion people

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

i thank the universe

for taking

everything it has taken

and giving to me

everything it is giving

- balance

it takes grace

to remain kind

in cruel situations

fall

in love

with your solitude

there is a difference between

someone telling you

they love you and

them actually

loving you

sometimes

the apology

never comes

when it is wanted

and when it comes

it is neither wanted

nor needed

- you are too late

you tell me

i am not like most girls

and learn to kiss me with your eyes closed

something about the phrase—something about

how i have to be unlike the women

i call sisters in order to be wanted

makes me want to spit your tongue out

like i am supposed to be proud you picked me

as if i should be relieved you think

i am better than them

the next time he

points out the

hair on your legs is

growing back remind

that boy your body

is not his home

he is a guest

warn him to

never outstep

his welcome

again

to be

soft

is

to be

powerful

you deserve to be

completely found

in your surroundings

not lost within them

i know it’s hard

believe me

i know it feels like

tomorrow will never come

and today will be the most

difficult day to get through

but i swear you will get through

the hurt will pass

as it always does

if you give it time and

let it so let it

go

slowly

like a broken promise

let it go

i like the way the stretch marks

on my thighs look human and

that we’re so soft yet

rough and jungle wild

when we need to be

i love that about us

how capable we are of feeling

how unafraid we are of breaking

and tend to our wounds with grace

just being a woman

calling myself

a woman

makes me utterly whole

and complete

my issue with what they consider beautiful

is their concept of beauty

centers around excluding people

i find hair beautiful

when a woman wears it

like a garden on her skin

that is the definition of beauty

big hooked noses

pointing upward to the sky

like they’re rising

to the occasion

skin the color of earth

my ancestors planted crops on

to feed a lineage of women with

thighs thick as tree trunks

eyes like almonds

deeply hooded with conviction

the rivers of punjab

flow through my bloodstream so

don’t tell me my women

aren’t as beautiful

as the ones in

your country

our backs

tell stories

no books have

the spine to

carry

- women of color

accept yourself

as you were designed

your body

is a museum

of natural disasters

can you grasp how

stunning that is

losing you

was the becoming

of myself

other women’s bodies

are not our battlegrounds

removing all the hair

off your body is okay

if that’s what you want to do

just as much as keeping all the hair

on your body is okay

if that’s what you want to do

- you belong only to yourself

apparently it is ungraceful of me

to mention my period in public

cause the actual biology

of my body is too real

it is okay to sell what’s

between a woman’s legs

more than it is okay to

mention its inner workings

the recreational use of

this body is seen as

beautiful while

its nature is

seen as ugly

you were a dragon long before

he came around and said

you could fly

you will remain a dragon

long after he’s left

i want to apologize to all the women

i have called pretty

before i’ve called them intelligent or brave

i am sorry i made it sound as though

something as simple as what you’re born with

is the most you have to be proud of when your

spirit has crushed mountains

from now on i will say things like

you are resilient or you are extraordinary

not because i don’t think you’re pretty

but because you are so much more than that

i have

what i have

and i am happy

i’ve lost

what i’ve lost

and i am

still

happy

- outlook

you look at me and cry

everything hurts

i hold you and whisper

but everything can heal

if the hurt comes

so will the happiness

- be patient

the name kaur

makes me a free woman

it removes the shackles that

try to bind me

uplifts me

to remind me i am equal to

any man even though the state

of this world screams to me i am not

that i am my own woman and

i belong wholly to myself

and the universe

it humbles me

calls out and says i have a

universal duty to share with

humanity to nurture

and serve the sisterhood

to raise those that need raising

the name kaur runs in my blood

it was in me before the word itself existed

it is my identity and my liberation

- kaur

a woman of sikhi

the world

gives you

so much pain

and here you are

making gold out of it

- there is nothing purer than that

how you love yourself is

how you teach others

to love you

my heart aches for sisters more than anything

it aches for women helping women

like flowers ache for spring

the goddess between your legs

makes mouths water

you

are your own

soul mate

some people

are so bitter

to them

you must be kindest

we all move forward when

we recognize how resilient

and striking the women

around us are

for you to see beauty here

does not mean

there is beauty in me

it means there is beauty rooted

so deep within you

you can’t help but

see it everywhere

hair

if it was not supposed to be there

would not be growing

on our bodies in the first place

- we are at war with what comes most naturally to us

most importantly love

like it’s the only thing you know how

at the end of the day all this

means nothing

this page

where you’re sitting

your degree

your job

the money

nothing even matters

except love and human connection

who you loved

and how deeply you loved them

how you touched the people around you

and how much you gave them

i want to remain so

rooted to the ground

these tears

these hands

these feet

sink in

- grounded

you have to stop

searching for why at some point

you have to leave it alone

if you are not enough for yourself

you will never be enough

for someone else

you must

want to spend

the rest of your life

with yourself

first

of course i want to be successful

but i don’t crave success for me

i need to be successful to gain

enough milk and honey

to help those around

me succeed

my heartbeat quickens at

the thought of birthing poems

which is why i will never stop

opening myself up to conceive them