"Milk and Honey"

“Milk and Honey”

Written by Rupi Kaur

Review written by Diana Iozzia

As I considered reading “Milk and Honey” by Rupi Kaur, I considered what I had previously heard about her poetry. I had heard it was about romance and sex, but it also spoke about the harsher sides of both. As I began reading, I was a bit off-put by the poems about sex, but I realized that the cruder poems are just not for me. However, there were many poems that struck a chord, especially the poems about family, young love, and domestic abuse. I couldn’t relate to the harsher poems, but I felt they were important to read. I imagine that someone who is in a dark place could find this book and truly find an outlet or a place to heal. Even so, I imagine some of the poems could possibly make someone feel a bit reminded of harsher topics, especially for those who have survived different forms of abuse. Separated into sections, such as “The Hurting”, “The Loving”, “The Breaking”, “The Healing”, allows for every reader to find a poem that’s great for them.

One of my favorite aspects of Rupi Kaur’s writing is her ability to create unique but familiar metaphors and similes. Including metaphors about dragons, mermaids, cities, flowers, music, and more are not exclusive, but I felt that Kaur creates these forms of literature in very refreshing ways. Her writing exemplifies what I look for in modern poetry. Another thing that I noticed about Rupi Kaur’s verses that stuck out to me were the way she could turn something beautiful into something so terrible, in a mere sentence or two. This is something that I have considered to be “sweet and sour” poetry.

The poems I enjoyed most will have an asterisk next to them. These are all of the poems I enjoyed. Unfortunately, most poems do not have titles, so I will list the page numbers of those without titles. The majority of the poems were very strong in theme and nature but were very interesting and wise.

pg 14, pg 18 pg 19- “To Fathers with Daughters” * pg 21*, pg 46- “I Will Have to Wait ‘til I’m a Mother”, pg 48, pg 50, pg 51, pg 53-“The Perfect Date”, pg 59 * pg 60, pg 72- “You”, pg 75- “Solo Performance”, pg 76-77- “Howe We Make Up”, pg 84, pg 85, pg 89 *, pg 92, pg 95, pg 99- “If You Want to Know What Kind of Man He Is”, pg 100, pg 104, pg 114, pg 115, pg 117- “The Difference”, pg 121, pg 122, pg 123- “Us”, pg 128 *, pg 136- “When You Ask if We Can Still Be Friends”, pg 137, pg 158- “To The Reader”, pg 167, pg 173, pg 175, pg 178