Milk & Honey
8 years ago by
Poetry has always been a mystery to me.
To read, to write, to understand. I’ve always struggled to relate to it, finding that often the kinds that were taught in school felt like they were from centuries and worlds away. Not that there’s anything wrong with a timeless Shakespeare sonnet or the romantics of John Keats, but if I was going to sit down and read poetry, there had to be something new that kept me glued to the page.
Then I found Milk and Honey. Introduced to me by a friend, Rupi Kaur’s debut book of poetry looks at her experiences of abuse, love, loss, and what it means to be a woman. Woven in with her own illustrations, she speaks about the euphoria of falling in love and the agony of when it falls apart.
Reading it, all I could think about was how every girl could use this on their bookshelf. A kind of relatable and beautifully crafted self-help book.
Have you ever reacted to a book like this? Are there any other contemporary poets we should check out?
By Nicole, intern at the studio
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wislawa szymborska is a poet I like to read and reread…
Nice post dear!
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Ooh nice – I’ll have to check Milk & Honey out! Thought not exactly contemporary, Rilke was the first poet to ever really resonate with me. Still the most powerful for me, too.
My favorite are some Estonian classics (Liiv, Vaarandi). I also like Russian poets (Pushkin, Lermontov).
I haven’t read poetry for a very long time so I do not know any contemporary poets. Ashamed to say…
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Hi,
could you tell me where does the photo come from? I love the shelves especially the whited eggs.
My students introduced me to Warsan Shire, a young Londoner, who is of Somali descent. She came to fame recently, I believe, because Beyonce used her lyrics in her new album. She’s quite good, with a fresh perspective on love, youth and identity.
Warsan Shire is wonderful. Mary Oliver is another to add to the list.
Try “The Gift” by Hafiz. Not modern at all — thousands of years old, in fact. He is one of the Sufi poets. But if you have a faith or spiritual bent (or maybe even if you’re not :-) ), he will uplift you, calm your fears and even make you laugh. Pure joy.
If you haven’t read it, “Citizen” by Claudia Rankine is a must. It’s beautiful, and it explores some of the most important social issues of our time.
I really want to read this book! I’ve had my eye on it for ages but I just have so many books to read at the moment and the list never seems to get any shorter!
The Prophet by Khalil Gibran and my all time favorite : les Fleurs du Mal de Baudelaire.
Kirmen Uribe, “Meanwhile Take My Hand”/”Entre temps donne moi la main”
Alfonsina Storni and Cesar Vallejo come to mind.