Representation is important. Seeing someone of your color with hair like yours in TV shows, or writing books, ruling countries, doing spoken word poetry. Regardless the occupation, representation is important. Knowing that someone out there looks like you, and faces the challenges you face because of a last name, a hairy arm, a gushy menstrual cycle, means that you’re being represented. Your struggles are shared and you don’t have to suffer alone. This is what I have found in up and coming poet Rupi Kaur. I look up to strong women, from my Bengali mother, my Guinean best friend, to Beyonce. But rarely have I found a woman similar to my age, with the same passion as me, and the same urge to create, until I stumbled upon Rupi Kaur’s existence. She writes! What an understatement. Rupi’s visceral words roll off the tongue and off the page and come alive before your eyes. She is a mystery to me, an open book, and a comforting friend. I see her being talked about, written about, praised, hated, applauded, and I want to be her. I want to have the courage to stand up for things as she does. I aspire to create magic the way she does and to share love and pain the way she does.
Most recently she created Broken English which is an homage to her mother and all mothers out there who are works of art. I was nearly brought to tears watching this for the first time and thinking of my own mother who is putting herself through school, raising a family, and paving her independence. My mother’s broken english has never made me more proud.
I highly recommend you check her out and I hope she is as inspiring to you as she was to me.
Check her out below:
Instagram: https://instagram.com/rupikaur_/
Website: http://www.rupikaur.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7c1LIe2w-kYfqzXTC7adgw
The Euphoric Vibes 