Poignant, Powerful, Perfect Lowercase Poetry for the Soul

Titles: milk and honey and the sun and her flowers
Author: Rupi Kaur
Years Written: 2015 and 2017
Length: 204 and 248 pages
Why I chose these books: I saw pages of these books reposted so frequently on social media that I felt like I'd read them already. But I hadn't given it my full attention, and I wanted to.

Rupi Kaur's poetry is the kind of poetry that can exist independently of any context at all and still knock the wind out of you consistently. She was originally self-published! And she was born 3 years after me, in 1992. She is simultaneously intimidating and inspiring, but so tiny (I've seen her on Instagram). Her poetic voice is poignant beyond her physical years. There's not enough I can say about her art. It's never too much, and I couldn't get enough.

She has said that she writes her poetry in all lowercase letters, with minimal punctuation, as homage to her mother tongue, Punjabi. Though she can read and understand Punjabi, she doesn't have the ability to write in Punjabi, which uses the Gurmukhi script, sans uppercase letters and most punctuation.

Rupi writes about sexual abuse, toxic relationships, passionate romance and chemistry, and other topics that are easy to do the wrong way. The graceful bravery of her writing helps the reader swallow the hard pills, washing it down with the beauty and creativity of the simple pictures she paints.

Both milk and honey and the sun and her flowers are divided into chapters, but overall, they are fluid as a set. I read them back to back, and got plenty of emotion and inspiration from the things Rupi Kaur has written.

Rating: 10/10