Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur

Milk and honey is a poetry book written by Rupi Kaur and published on 2014.

Who is Rupi Kaur ?

Rupi Kaur was born on October 4, 1992 in India. She’s a writer who became famous thanks to social media, more specifically through Instagram where she posted her poems. She is a feminist and fights for any form of equality. She starts to draw, paint and write very young, inspired and encouraged by her mother. Milk and Honey is her first book.

About the book ;

Milk and Honey is divided in 4 parts ; the hurting, the loving, the breaking and the healing. 

The hurting talks about abuse (of different types ; physical, mental, sexual…) There is a lot of sadness in this part, we see her pain, she exposes her demons. She talks about assault, violence, family and the place of women in society.

The loving is surely the most joyful part of the book ; she talks about love, friendship, security, hope and learn to love herself.

The breaking is about the separation, the void, the loneliness, the regret… all the things that appears when love go away. 

And finally, the healing ; it’s a total reconstruction of herself, it’s about self acceptance, self love and feminism.

This book is, for me, the perfect representation of life, it’s a cycle ; we love, we suffer, we heal and love again and again… We can identify oneself so much at her words, we pass through all the emotions possible. It’s hard to read at the beginning because she talks about a lot of sensitive subjects that can be traumatic but Rupi Kaur is a survivor and makes us feel like this thanks to her book. It’s the reconstruction of a woman, like a faded flower who blooms again. It’s a good message of hope, whatever can happen, it’s not the end, there is always hope.

Pillow Thoughts by Courtney Peppernell

Pillow Thoughts is a poetry book write in prose published in 2016. The particularity of this book is that you don’t have to read it in order, there is no real beginning or end. It is divided into sections to read when you feel you need them the most. 

Courtney Peppernell is totally devoted to her readers and wants to help people to feel understand, not alone and supported. 

The book is divided into ten parts ; if you are dreaming of someone, if you are in love, if you are heartbroken, if you are lonely, if you are sad, if you are missing someone, if you need encouragement, if you are soul-searching, if you need a reason to stay and the last part is « this is for you ».

Everybody can relate to her words. Sometimes you just can’t put words one your own feelings, it’s to hard or you just don’t understand them and it’s totally okay, just know that poetry can help to take a step back, this book can do it that’s why I recommend it.