The Sun And Her Flowers: Heartfelt And Palpable
“Why is it that when the story ends, we begin to feel all of it?”
It's a sample of a line that can make or break someone, from Rupi Kaur, a 25-year old Punjabi-Canadian writer. Kaur is the author of the book 'Milk and Honey', a New York Times bestseller, and the recently published 'The Sun and Her Flowers', also a bestseller.
Said The New York Times: "Kaur is a 23-year-old social media phenom from Toronto who gained attention last year when she fought Instagram’s removal of a photo she posted showing menstrual blood. As her audience grew — she now has 475,000 followers on Instagram and 34,500 on Twitter — Kaur earned a reputation not only for her photos and sketches but also for brief, plain-spoken poems tackling feminism, love, trauma and healing in short lines that can be as smooth as pop music (“love will hold you / love will call your name”) or as jagged as rusty metal (“the hurt / the loss / the pain / the breaking”).
'The Sun and Her Flowers' is a collection of heartfelt, palpable poetry that include intimate details of self-appreciation and self-hatred, feminism, and motherly affection. It is a journey of wilting, falling, rooting, rising, and blooming.
this is the recipe of life
said my mother
as she held me in her arms as I wept
think of those flowers you plant
in the garden each year
they will teach you
that people too
must wilt
fall
root
rise
in order to bloom.
- Rupi Kaur
'The Sun and Her Flowers' expresses Kaur's notions about growth and healing as of finding a home within oneself. The book moves the reader closer to self-awareness by espousing the honoring of one’s roots and the valuing of one's growth. It also makes one feel a wide array of emotions-- from joy to love to surprise to anger and shame. It has a keen concern for relationships, especially with girlfriends supporting their girlfriends, and mother-daughter relationships.
Aside from being a poet, Kaur also performs and illustrates. Readers get to see her illustrations in the book.
