Trigger Warning Poetry Packs a Punch

With no presence on social media, I have been missing out on the avalanche that is Rupi Kaur, a Toronto-based poet and photographer whose collection of poetry Milk and Honey (2015) was published in October. Apparently, social media had been her primary mode of building and promoting herself.

I only became aware of her this past Friday, when, after sharing a few of my favorite poems with my students in recognition of National Poetry Month, one of my seventh grade girls came up to me at the end of class, put the book in my hands with a smile on her face, and said, "Read this."

I opened the book and quickly closed it because I had landed on a page of a line drawing that was sexual in nature. My quick thought? "Um, is this book appropriate for a 13 year old? Where did she get this book?" I waited until all students had cleared the room, sat at my desk, and began to read. Two words quickly came to my mind: provocative. feminist.

Rupi Kaur "shares her writing with the world as a means to create a safe space for progressive healing and forward movement...Milk and Honey is a collection of poetry about love, loss, trauma, abuse, healing, and femininity." Divided into four chapters (the hurting, the loving, the breaking, the healing) the poems in this collection pack a punch, particularly the first and the last chapters. The former I found to be raw; the latter empowering. All four chapters are powerful.

Though I was totally engrossed by the collection, it did raise a question for me: What makes Kaur's words poetry?

Yes, Kaur has a definite voice and style, and her content could be considered feminist and political. At times, though, I found myself questioning the literary merit of her craft. The traditional elements of poetry as we've been taught to recognize them (alliteration, rhyme, rhythm, simile, metaphor, personification, etc.) aren't evident in many of her poems. Her line breaks are at times dubious. At their basic level, some of her poems seem to be renditions of familiar advice or platitudes. In a few cases, some of the poems seem repetitive.

And yet, though I also agree with Kaur's critics, her words are impactful. The seemingly simple way that she expresses her ideas--many universal themes--resonate at one's core. I suppose it's that ability to provoke a reaction with her words, as she's presented them, that makes what she's written poetry.

As an educator, regardless of how I feel about the literary talent  or merit of a writer, I can appreciate the writer and the work for encouraging what I hope my students do habitually: read. That is what Kaur has done. My student became aware of the book through social media, read some the poems, and was compelled to buy the book. That is quite a feat. Kaur's poems are opening up a conversation about the form and showcases it as a tool for empowering the self.

As such, Rupi Kaur's Milk and Honey is highly recommended, for though she uses simple words, her message is poignant and powerful.

This is a CBR8 crossposted review.