”Milk and honey” published by Rupi Kaurs is a deeply felt, influential book of poetry describing the exploration of womanhood and identity. Rupi Kaurs inspired this well-written book from her incidents in her past. she wanted to expose and portray essential messages of the patriarchy fear of woman bodies through poetry. Her poems are so profound however extremely brief. Kaur poems explain and cover issues of the pain, injustice, love, loss, healing, and self-awareness, femininity and the different aspects of being a woman in society. She writes these poems in such an ordinary matter however her use of words makes this read of poetry so unforgettable and impressive. Her poems are written in the first person, but readers should see these poems as the powerful insights of a woman. There are four main chapters in milk and honey. The hurting, the breaking, the loving, the healing. Each section deals with a different kind of pain and a different kind of heartache.

”The Hurting” You have sadness living in places sadness shouldn’t live”
The hurting chapter, in my opinion, was the hardest to read. It represents Kaur’s traumatic experiences in her poetry. She tells the us that she experienced rape, harassment, and brutal childhood memories. She writes these poems to let the reader know that they are not alone. She expresses a message that it’s not ok to be abused because of the fact that she’s a ”woman”. I feel strongly about this topic of equality as its a big issue in today’s society and hasn’t changed or improved at all. However, I loved how Rupi connects this chapter to feminity as she speaks for the woman and their resilience. Rupi delivers the sharp truth in this chapter however she gives us time to process that truth. While reading this, I felt like every word in her poems evoke strong emotions within me.

”The loving” Rupi experiences relationships and the loss of relationships in this chapter also integrating the hurt she felt. ”love will come and when love comes love will hold you love will call your name and you will sometimes melt though love will hurt you but love will never mean to love will play no games cause love knows life has been hard enough already” . Rupi represents that love is not what you see in movies she doesn’t sugarcoat it, she instead describes her relationship with love. Love in ”milk and honey” presented what girls go through as they love unconditionally however they hurt at the same time which was presented as an overall struggle in most of her poems. Rupi loses herself in some points that were demonstrated in her poems, she loses someone then she ends up losing herself however she tells us how she lived through it and recovered from the pain which is an essential message that woman need to know.

”The breaking”  ”You are in the habit of co-depending on people to
make up for what you think you lack who tricked you into believing
another person was meant to complete you when the most they can do is compliment” Rupi Kaur uses such raw, profound words in her poems, particularly in the breaking chapter. She shows vulnerability and opens her voice as she wants us to feel what she feels. Poems in this chapter represent the breaking point in Rupis life, she expresses through her poems feelings of sadness and loss. She constantly fights conflicts and thoughts that she has which leaves herself leaving her confused and not herself. Her poems express the hurtful actions that are strung upon her. This chapter is important as a lot of people come across everyday conflicts and it’s important to get through them. Rupi eventually gets through these conflicts that she expresses which in relation to the loving chapter its is also it’s important for people to know that they’ll get through it and it’s amazing how Rupi can empower this.

The healing in milk and honey demonstrates the importance of loving yourself and others. At times we can be harsh to one another judge one another and speak corrupt words to one another. However, the author wanted the reader to understand and remind us that it’s beautiful to be a woman and also to support other women
‘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”
This is such a raw poem from the healing chapter of milk and honey it demonstrates “whole and Complete.” in the poem we learn that we need to embrace ourselves which will lead to healing of the emotional wounds that other people and ourselves have created. Instead of judging each other we can be surrounded by individuals who encourage healing instead of our breaking. Rupi wants the woman to feel beautiful as well as to look at other women beautifully. Through the book, the poems remind yourself to take time and reflect on how we define ourselves individually as a woman and realise that it’s essential to stop competing with others than to celebrate and embrace ourselves. Not only can we heal ourselves but we can heal others which I thought was a beautiful expression the poem presents. The poem embraces womanhood and all the love that comes with it. We need to embrace these emotions to embrace who we are.

The author manages to voice feelings and thoughts that we all have experienced at some point in our lives which makes the book so beautiful as we see and recognise some of the qualities she talks about in ourselves. While this book deals with serious issues, we get a hint of humour throughout the poetry and as well true and raw outlooks on real life which nicely balances out the book. Milk and honey describe feminity, abuse, trauma, loss, love and healing through the poems. We learn that we hurt, and we love, we break in order to heal which I thought was such a deep and raw perspective of what each and one of us go through. I love how Kaur speaks about her emotions, thoughts and her experiences through these poems yet she wants us to feel what she feels and what she has learnt. She empowers woman to listen to themselves and not other people opinions. I particularly enjoyed reading the healing chapter as I could relate to the poems in that chapter the most. This book made me feel, made me think and made me reflect on my past which I love. Kaur wrote these poems to convey her feelings, she wants us to feel connected through her experiences so I highly recommend this book for all people as I believe there’s at least one poem in ”Milk and honey” that we can relate to as we all have experienced some kind of pain in our lives and its essential to recover for us to move on. ”Milk and honey” will give us the freedom from the confusion of our past to courage and will remind you of your inner strength.