he placed his handson my mindbefore reachingfor my waistmy hipsor my lipshe didn’t call mebeautiful firsthe called meexquisite – how he touches me
it was when I stopped searching for home within others and lifted the foundations of home within myself I found there were no roots more intimate than those between a mind and body that have decided to be whole.
I will not have youbuild me into your lifewhen what i want is tobuild a life with you-the difference
despite knowingthey won’t be here for longthey still choose to livetheir brightest lives- sunflowers
a lot of timeswe are angry at other peoplefor not doing whatwe should have done for ourselves- responsibility
I will not have youbuild me into your lifewhen what i want is tobuild a life with you
isn’t it such a tragic thing when you can see it so clearly but the other person doesn’t
i am not a hotel room. i am homei am not the whiskey you wanti am the water you needdon’t come here with expectationsand try to make a vacation out of me
i am watersoft enoughto offer lifetough enoughto drown it away
for you to see beauty heredoes not meanthere is beauty in meit means there is beauty rootedso deep within youyou can’t help butsee it everywhere
your artis not about how many peoplelike your workyour art is aboutif your heart likes your workif your soul likes your workit’s about how honestyou are with yourselfand you must never trade honesty for relatability
i am a museum full of artbut you had your eyes shut
my godis not as unreachable asthey’d like you to thinkmy god is beating inside us infinitely
what terrifies me most is how wefoam at the mouth with envywhen others succeedbut sigh in reliefwhen they are failingour struggle tocelebrate each other iswhat’s proven most difficultin being human
my heart woke me crying last nighthow can i help i beggedmy heart said write the book
a daughter shouldnot have to beg her fatherfor a relationship
he placed his hands on my mind before reaching for my waist my hips or my lips
something about the phrase – something abouthow i have to be unlike the womeni call sisters in order to be wantedmakes me want to spit your tongue out
I love that about us how capable we are of feeling how unafraid we are of breaking and tend to our wounds with grace just being a womancalling myselfa womanmakes me utterly wholeand complete
do not bother holding ontothat thing that does not want you-you cannot make it stay
how you love yourself ishow you teach othersto love you
every time you tell your daughteryou yell at herout of loveyou teach her to confuseanger with kindnesswhich seems like a good ideatill she grows up totrust men who hurt hercause they look so muchlike you- to fathers with daughters
the rape willtear youin halfbut it will notend you
you look at me and cryeverything hurtsi hold you and whisperbut everything can heal
accept that you deserve more than painful love life is moving the healthiest thing for your heart is to move with it
do not look for healingat the feet of thosewho broke you
If I knew what safety looked like, I would have spent less time falling into arms that were not
our struggle to celebrate each other is what’s proven most difficult in being human
people say things meant to rip you in half but you hold the power to notturn their words into a knifeand cut yourself
i thank the universe for takingeverything it has takenand giving to meeverything it is giving-balance
remind that boy your body is not his home he is a guest warn him to never outstep his welcome again
he saysi am sorry i am not an easy person to wanti look at him surprisedwho said i wanted easyi don’t crave easyi crave goddamn difficult
you mustn’t have to make them want you they must want you themselves
i always get myselfinto this messi always let himtell me i am beautifuland half believe iti always jump thinkinghe will catch me at the falli am hopelessly a lover anda dreamer and that will bethe death of me
the idea that we are so capable of love but still choose to be toxic
when you are brokenand he has left youdo not questionwhether you wereenoughthe problem wasyou were so enoughhe was not able to carry it
sex takes the consent of twoif one person is lying there not doing anythingcause they are not readyor not in the moodor simply don’t want toyet the other is having sexwith their body it’s not loveit is rape
If I body-shame a woman, it is more a reflection of me being critical of my body, me not being able to keep up to certain standards I have, and so making sure that the women around me feel the same way.
When writing for the page, the focus is on the design – how the words appear on the page. I try to make it as direct and simple as possible.
Really, at the end of the day, the only thing you can control is yourself; the only person you can truly educate is yourself. You have to redefine what beauty is to you so you can’t be affected by what people are saying.
You have to really understand that although certain memories or stories make you sad, you are not sad. Pull yourself out from that emotion and remember that.
The topics just kind of come to me. If they are relevant, it’s because they’re happening in the world around me, and it’s affecting me. Poetry is my way of dealing with it.
There was no market for poetry about trauma, abuse, loss, love, and healing through the lens of a Punjabi-Sikh immigrant woman.
I would give anything to sing like Beyonce or Adele. I’ve said many times to my friends that if I could sing like them, I would give up poetry and writing.
Poetry and art are key influences in changing how we look at taboos.
How do you redefine love when your idea of love is something that’s so violent? When your idea of passion is anger, how do you fix that?