My Favorite Poems From "Milk and Honey"

Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur is a collection of poetry/prose about love, loss, and relationships. The book is divided into four sections: the hurting, the loving, the breaking, the healing. Many of the pages are adorned with Kaur's personal illustrations. This book is one of the first poetry collections that I have read, and I will definitely be reading more as I adored this book. So many of the poems were so real and raw, and really spoke to me. As I read Milk and Honey, I marked many of my favorite pages so I could go back and read them again. While flipping through the marked pages, I decided that I would share some of my favorite pages, so here they are!

~ "I didn't leave because I stopped loving you. I left because the longer I stayed the less I loved myself." (pg. 95)

~ "I don't know what living a balanced life feels like. When I am sad I don't cry, I pour. When I am happy I don't smile, I glow. When I am angry I don't yell, I burn. The good thing about feeling in extremes is when I love I give them wings. But perhaps that isn't such a good thing cause they always tend to leave, and you should see me when my heart is broken. I don't grieve, I shatter." (pg. 109)

~ "You must enter a relationship with yourself before anyone else." (pg. 150)

~ "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 complement?" (pg. 154)

~ "If you were born with the weakness to fall, you were born with the strength to rise." (pg. 156)

~ "Stay strong through your pain. Grow flowers from it. You have helped me grow flowers out of mine so bloom beautifully, dangerously, loudly, bloom softly. However you need, just bloom. - to the reader" (pg. 158)

~ "I know it's hard, believe me. I know it feels like tomorrow will never come and today will be the most difficulty day to get through, but I swear you will get through. The hurt will pass as it always does, if you give it time and let it go so slowly like a broken promise. Let it go."

(pg. 168)

~ "I want to apologize to all the women I have called pretty before I've called them intelligent or brave. I am sorry I made it sound as though something as simple as what you're born with is the most you have to be proud of when your spirit has crushed mountains. From now on I will say things like you are resilient or you are extraordinary, not because I don't think you're pretty, but because you are so much more than that." (pg. 179)

~ "What terrifies me most is how we foam at the mouth with envy when others succeed but sigh in relief when they are failing. Our struggle to celebrate each other is what's proven most difficult in being human." (pg. 201)

~ "Your art is not about how many people like your work. Your art is about if your heart likes your work, if your soul likes your work. It's about how honest you are with yourself, and you must never trade honesty for relatability. - to all you young poets" (pg. 202)

---

Have you read Milk and Honey? If so, what did you think of it? What were your favorite poems? If you have any other book recommendations, be sure to leave them in the comments down below!