With the new release of Rupi Kaur’s second poetry collection, the sun and her flowers, it’s a good time to reflect on her first release as an author, milk and honey.
With a rating of 4.25/5 on Goodreads.com (rated by almost 100,000 readers) and beloved by many contemporary poetry fans, milk and honey was a best-selling hit from the University of Waterloo alumna. Her poetry in the first collection is about the strength that people find while facing adversity, particularly women within their femininity. milk and honey is divided into four chapters; the hurting, the loving, the breaking, and the healing.
Kaur takes us through a private journey that almost feels like a diary, and while that might make some uncomfortable, it is easier to connect with her this way and makes her poetry even more masterful. It is reminiscent of Sylvia Plath’s Ariel, if I may be so bold.
The illustrations alongside the poetry bring more visual depth and prevent the reader from swimming in text.
Kaur has a Bachelor of English and graduated in 2015 from the University of Waterloo.
She now leads the way and brightens the path for English majors at the university.
Her first collection was self-published and sold 17,000 copies – a major success for a first work without a publisher.
Kaur then went on to sell half a million copies with a US publisher.
To anyone who wants to get into an arts career, Kaur has this to say: “You have to work tirelessly. Sure you don’t get paid for a while. But work anyway. The tangible things will come. Trust me, there is nothing more liberating and freeing than being able to do what you love. Everything worth doing is difficult. So keep doing it.”
Her second collection, the sun and her flowers was released Oct. 3, and has been reviewed as “vibrant and transcendent”.
Many of the reviews on the collection that I’ve encountered talk about how her voice is stronger than ever and is as deeply intimate as in the first.
Kaur is an inspiration to young women and writers everywhere. You can buy her new collection, the sun and her flowers at any major book retailer.
I, for one, am dying to get my hands on it – and you should be too.
