Rupi Kaur Is a Terrible Poet — Here’s Why

In the world of 21st century poetry, Rupi Kaur takes the crown considering that her four published books (milk and honey, the sun and her flowers, home body and healing through words) which center around heavy themes of womanhood, abuse, relationships and empowerment, particularly in a south Asian perspective, have sold for millions across the globe. Her first book was on the New York’s Best Selling list for 41 consecutive weeks and she has even conducted tours performing spoken word. However, despite this massive success which is almost unbeknownst in the world of poetry, I will be explaining why Kaur’s popular works are cliché, crudely simple and underwhelming at best.

Novel’s are all the words in the best order and poetry is all the best syllables in the best order. This is because the most important and distinct aspect of a poem is the way that it sounds and the consequential emotions elicited by the phonetics. Hence, structure is an integral part in poetry, such as Haiku which is made up of a 5 7 5 syllable scheme or sonnets that follow iambic pentameter. Even free verse that does not adhere to a pre-described structure is upheld to the belief that the words should sound almost musical which can be achieved by a multitude of techniques for instance consonance, assonance, rhymes, alliteration and repetition. In fact, Kaur chooses to dismiss the most basic of techniques by excluding all grammar in her work, which may be a nod to the Ghurmukhi script. Using an example of Kaur’s poem below, she only extends these techniques to short alliterations like “border between” and some repetitions such as “the” and “you” which serve no purpose in underscoring the themes. In comparison, Sylvia Plath’s poem ‘Daddy,’ is scattered with “o” sounds (assonance) from the very first lines “You do not do, you do not do/Any more, black shoe.” The o’s are reminiscent of the sound one may make when in physical pain, which is implemented to reflect the pain Plath experiences from the absence of her father. Though certainly Plath’s poem is a lot more difficult to understand when put next to the straightforwardness of Rupi Kaur’s, it is the layers of complexity which represent the various ways in which Plath’s poetry can be interpreted that makes it an honorable example of the writing style. This brings me to my second point.

The presence of multiple interpretations is a powerful characteristic of the dying artform, however Kaur essentially shoves her ideas and perspectives down her readers throats to the point that some have even accused her of appropriating the south Asian immigrant experience. Though it would be wrong to question her ordeals, the reason why Kaur’s work is one dimensional is due to the simplicity which leaves her poems vulnerable to clichés, poorly strewn out metaphors and the complete absence of imagery. For example, “your absence is a missing limb,” is supposed to be accepted as an entire poem when it really is just a single line. The metaphor, though captivating, is not developed into something more substantial leaving the poem prone to clichés. This is after all a mediocre way of saying “you are the part of me that is missing” something that has been said many times before by many authors. Hence, Kaur has nothing new to offer. The amateurism of her work is obvious when contrasted with actual poets, for instance W.S. Merwin’s relatively short poem “Your absence has gone through me/ Like thread through a needle./Everything I do is stitched with its colour.” Here Merwin rather than just mentioning a metaphor, expands it so that the image of someone’s life coloured by another’s is elicited. Moreover, he presents being separated from someone from a new perspective, instead of displaying it as a missing part of oneself, he insists that it is rather a persistent painful addition.

There are many similar so-called poems throughout Kaur’s books which really just sound like ideas that failed to become poems. Her ‘the human condition’ is basically a sentence every single person in the world has told themselves with unnecessary line breaks and Rupi Kaur was so lazy in her writing she could not even complete the word because and instead opted for “cause. ” Readers are also expected to believe that “if the hurt comes so will the happiness”, “i will welcome a partner who is my equal,” “never feel guilty for starting again” and “if you were born with/ the weakness to fall/ you were born with/ the strength to rise” are supposed to be poems, when you could easily find this advice strewn across typo phone covers.

If the meaning of these manage to allude readers Kaur has kindly included illustrations that underscore the crude literature, however somehow these sketches are even more childish than the poems themselves. They resemble more so doodles made by bored students on school desks rather than the works of an artist that has been (so wrongly) named the ‘Writer of the Decade.’

Kaur’s work is no different to the many basic and cliché quotes found plastered across pillow cases, phone cases and other mundane objects. Now having written all these highly critical statements, I do like some of her writing such as “i am losing parts of you like i lose eyelashes unknowingly and everywhere” or when she speaks of beheading flowers. These left me a bit jealous I had not thought of the ingenious metaphors myself, however the distinction between actual poetry and Rupi Kaur’s poetry lies in the fact that, even though some have intriguing ideas, her work lacks musicality and its shortness and simplicity leads to deficiencies in depth and originality and can only be understood from one perspective, therefore defeating the purpose of poetry. That is not to say her books cannot be enjoyed or that her writing is not moving. Giving credit where credit is due, the author is brave in confronting dark realities and painful experiences and has the ability to relate this to a large expanse of readers. Hence, I don’t think her books aren’t worth reading if relatable, inspirational and empowering quotes is the genre one wishes to explore, however to delve into the world of poetry one should stay well away from the Rupi Kaur books.