Rupi Kaur: [there are whole blackouts]

there are whole blackouts

in some of the years i have lived

my therapist says our minds erase trauma

to help us move on

but every experience i've had

is memorized in my flesh

even if my mind forgets

my body remembers

my body is the map of my life

my body wears what it's been through

my body signals the alarms when

it thinks danger is coming

and suddenly

the hungry little demons from my past

come raging out of my flesh

screaming

don't you forget us

don't you ever try to

leave us behind again

Rupi Kaur: [i want to apologize to all the women]

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

Rupi Kaur: [i don't know what living a balanced life feels like]

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

rupi kaur: [I do not want to have you...]

i do not want to have you
to fill the empty parts of me
i want to be full on my own
i want to be so complete
i could light a whole city
and then
i want to have you
cause the two of us combined
could set it on fire

rupi kaur: together

the irony of loneliness
is we all feel it
at the same time

Rupi Kaur: [i am having a difficult time right now]

i am having a difficult time right now
comparing myself to other people
i am stretching myself thin trying to be them
making fun of my face like my father
calling it ugly
starving out this premature double chin before it
melts into my shoulders like candle wax
fixing the bags under my eyes that carry the rape
bookmarking surgical procedures for my nose
there is so much that needs tending to
can you point me in the right direction
i need to take this body off
which way back to the womb

Rupi Kaur: let’s leave this place roofless

there are mountains growing

beneath our feet

that cannot be contained

all we’ve endured

has prepared us for this

bring your hammers and fists

we have a glass ceiling to shatter

Rupi Kaur: [what terrifies me most...]

what terrrifies 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

rupi kaur: boat

your legs buckle like a tired horse running for safety

drag them by the hips and move faster

you do not have the privilege to rest

in a country that wants to spit you out

you have to keep

going and going

and going

till you reach the water

hand over everything in your name

for a ticket onto the boat

next to a hundred others like you

packed like sardines

you tell the woman beside you

this boat is not strong enough to carry

this much sorrow to a shore

what does it matter she says

if drowning is easier than staying

how many people has this water drunk up

is it all one long cemetery

bodies buried without a country

perhaps the sea is your country

perhaps the boat sinks

because it is the only place that will take you

rupi kaur: timeless

they convinced me
i only had a few good years left
before i was replaced by a girl younger than me
as though men yield power with age
but women grow into irrelevance
they can keep their lies
for i have just gotten started
i feel as though i just left the womb
my twenties are the warm-up
for what i'm really about to do
wait till you see me in my thirties
now that will be a proper introduction
to the nasty, wild, woman in me,
how can i leave before the party's started
rehearsals begin at forty
i ripen with age
i do not come with an expiration date
and now
for the main event
curtains up at fifty
let's begin the show

Rupi Kaur: [did you think i was a city….]

did you think i was a city
big enough for a weekend getaway
i am the town surrounding it
the one you've never heard of
but always pass through
there are no neon lights here
no skyscapers or statues
but there is thunder
for i make bridges tremble
i am not street meat i am homemade jam
thick enough to cut the sweetest
thing your lips will touch
i am not police sirens
i am the crackle of a fireplace
i'd burn you and you still
couldn't take your eyes off of me
cause i'd look so beautiful doing it
you'd blush
i am not a hotel room i am home
i am not the whiskey you want
i am the water you need
don't come here with expectations
and try to make a vacation out of me

Rupi Kaur: to fathers with daughters

every time you
tell your daughter
you yell at her
out of love
you teach her to confuse
anger with kindness
which seems like a good idea
till she grows up to
trust men who hurt her
cause they look so much
like you.

Rupi Kaur: [love is not cruel]

love is not cruel
we are cruel
love is not a game
we have made a game
out of love

Rupi Kaur: Our souls are mirrors

god must have kneaded you and i
from the same dough
rolled us out as one on the baking sheet
must have suddenly realized
how unfair it was
to put that much magic in one person
and sadly split that dough in two
how else is it that
when i look in the mirror
i am looking at you
when you breathe
my own lungs fill with air
that we just met but we
have known each other our whole lives
if we were not made as one to begin with

Rupi Kaur: [when my mother says i deserve better]

when my mother says i deserve better
i snap to your defense out of habit
he still loves me i shout
she looks at me with defeated eyes
the way a parent looks at their child
when they know this is the type of pain
even they can't fix
and says
it means nothing to me if he loves you
if he can't do a single wretched thing about it