Milk and Honey (9 page)

removing all the hair
off your body is okay
if that’s what you want to do
just as much as keeping all the hair
on your body is okay
if that’s what you want to do

- you belong only to yourself

apparently it is ungraceful of me
to mention my period in public
cause the actual biology
of my body is too real
it is okay to sell what’s
between a woman’s legs
more than it is okay to
mention its inner workings
the recreational use of
this body is seen as
beautiful while
its nature is
seen as ugly

you were a dragon long before
he came around and said
you could fly
you will remain a dragon
long after he’s left

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

i have
what i have
and i am happy
i’ve lost
what i’ve lost
and i am
still
happy

- outlook

you look at me and cry
everything hurts
i hold you and whisper
but everything can heal

if the hurt comes
so will the happiness

- be patient

the name kaur
makes me a free woman
it removes the shackles that
try to bind me
uplifts me
to remind me i am equal to
any man even though the state
of this world screams to me i am not
that i am my own woman and
i belong wholly to myself
and the universe
it humbles me
calls out and says i have a
universal duty to share with
humanity to nurture
and serve the sisterhood
to raise those that need raising
the name kaur runs in my blood
it was in me before the word itself existed
it is my identity and my liberation

- kaur
  a woman of sikhi

the world
gives you
so much pain
and here you are
making gold out of it

- there is nothing purer than that

how you love yourself is
how you teach others
to love you

my heart aches for sisters more than anything
it aches for women helping women
like flowers ache for spring

the goddess between your legs
makes mouths water

you
are your own
soul mate

some people
are so bitter
to them
you must be kindest

we all move forward when
we recognize how resilient
and striking the women
around us are

for you to see beauty here
does not mean
there is beauty in me
it means there is beauty rooted
so deep within you
you can’t help but
see it everywhere

hair
if it was not supposed to be there
would not be growing
on our bodies in the first place

- we are at war with what comes most naturally to us

most importantly love
like it’s the only thing you know how
at the end of the day all this
means nothing
this page
where you’re sitting
your degree
your job
the money
nothing even matters
except love and human connection
who you loved
and how deeply you loved them
how you touched the people around you
and how much you gave them

i want to remain so
rooted to the ground
these tears
these hands
these feet
sink in

- grounded

you have to stop
searching for why at some point
you have to leave it alone

if you are not enough for yourself
you will never be enough
for someone else