The Sunday Mail
Andrew Moyo Beyond the Cover
People have become hooked to photo sharing service Instagram.
While the majority of users think of Instagram as an app with which to share selfies, there are artistes who are taking advantage of its popularity to push their craft.
I do not think I would have known that there is a poet named Rupi Kaur had I not bumped into her work on Instagram.
The artiste has come to be known as an “Instapoet”, rising to prominence by posting her poems on Instagram among other social media platforms.
Her poems have made a huge impact leading to her garnering a following of over a million people on Instagram alone. After reading numerous pieces, I was prompted to find out if she had published any books, which is how I got to grab a copy of her anthology, “Milk and Honey”.
This is a brilliantly crafted poetry collection, which focuses on violence, love, loss and femininity among other themes.
The poems are accompanied by gripping illustrations to breathe more life into the art. The majority of the poems are short but the messages are powerful as Kaur’s pen drips with emotion.
It is no surprise that her pieces are short and hard-hitting, because much of the social media generation is used to communicating in as few words as possible.
From the struggles of abused women to a mother’s indescribable love, Kaur creates a body of art that many people can relate to.
Yes, some may feel the radical feminist streak is strong in her work, one cannot help but applaud how she moves from the hurt to the remedy.
“The next time you have your coffee black, you’ll taste the bitter state he left you in, it will make you weep, but you’ll never stop drinking, you’d rather have the darkest parts of him, than have nothing,” she writes.
She also writes: “I want to apologise 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.”
