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" I did not start out thinking I'm going to become a feminist poet. It was a tag I was given. "
Rupi Kaur
Start
Thinking
Poet
Related Quotes:
" Being that my parents and I were immigrants to Canada, I didn't have the most lavish life growing up. "
Rupi Kaur
Canada
Growing Up
Parents
" I sat with myself one day and asked, 'Who is in those prestigious literary circles? Do they represent me? Do they appreciate the topics I write about and the style in which I write? Do those gatekeepers let a demographic like mine through the door?' And the answer was no. "
Rupi Kaur
Me
Appreciate
Day
" It was tough to cope with the pressure of having to talk about menstruation, but now with 'Newsweek' splashing it as the cover story, I thing the point I wished to make has found its mark. "
Rupi Kaur
Point
Now
Tough
" I wasn't trying to write a book; it wasn't even in my vision. I was posting stuff online just because it made me feel relieved - as a way of getting things off my chest. "
Rupi Kaur
Way
Book
Vision
" My parents didn't allow me to do all the things the cool kids could do. I was quiet, reserved, and at some points, taken complete advantage of simply because of my sex and gender. For a while, in high school, I was so deep into self-hate. "
Rupi Kaur
High School
Parents
Deep
" 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. "
Rupi Kaur
Beauty
Yourself
Day
" 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. "
Rupi Kaur
Like
Writing
Up
" 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? "
Rupi Kaur
Passion
Love Is
Love
" Just because someone tells you they love you, it doesn't mean they actually do. "
Rupi Kaur
You
Someone
Mean
" I don't fit into the age, race, or class of a bestselling poet. "
Rupi Kaur
Race
Age
Class
" Growing up, I naturally embraced who I was, but I was always battling with myself. So I spent half my time being proud of being a woman and the other half completely hating it. "
Rupi Kaur
Growing Up
Woman
Time
" I think I only started to speak to people in grade four. "
Rupi Kaur
People
Only
Speak
" I realize I'm blessed to have the luxury of being a full-time writer. Not many people have that. "
Rupi Kaur
Realize
People
Luxury
" I was always writing for myself. I wrote what I needed to write and hear - that's what makes it powerful. "
Rupi Kaur
Write
Powerful
Myself
" Why are brown women bullying brown women for body hair? Why are brown women bullying brown women for the same traits we all have? "
Rupi Kaur
Women
Hair
Bullying
" I want to create a collection, almost like a trilogy of sorts. Whereas 'Milk and Honey' was very much like holding a mirror up to yourself, the second book is turning that mirror around and fixing it on the world. The book is a reflection of the times we are in. "
Rupi Kaur
Mirror
Reflection
Want
" 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. "
Rupi Kaur
Yourself
Memories
Remember
" Social media has been such a big platform for my success. But it can also be a toxic place. "
Rupi Kaur
Social Media
Place
Success
" For some of my young female readers, it will be the first time they will have seen a Punjabi author be successful in the West. Because I'm dealing with topics that aren't always easily discussed, I know they will look up to me, because I would have done the same. So I just want to make sure I do right by them, wherever this takes me. "
Rupi Kaur
Successful
Time
Done
" 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. "
Rupi Kaur
Design
Writing
Simple
" I'm a brown girl from a Punjabi pind raised in Toronto. I don't expect literary critics and purists to understand the nuances of my experiences, and the experiences of the people around me... And my tradition holds that there is a magic in the written word. So how I write, what I write of, and why I write all comes naturally. "
Rupi Kaur
Tradition
Magic
Girl
" I won the speech competition in class, and I always say this was my first 'spoken word performance.' It was the first time I got on stage and recited something. I fell in love with the stage at the age of 12. "
Rupi Kaur
Speech
Age
Competition
" Feeling 'ugly' or 'unattractive' seeps into your life like poison, and it affects everything. Feeling worthless does the same. We internalise these limitations, and it takes an internal revolution to get rid of them. "
Rupi Kaur
Ugly
Feeling
Life
" In high school, I started saving up to get a nose job, which is so ridiculous. I had this job at Tim Hortons, and I was trying to save up $10,000 for a nose job. "
Rupi Kaur
School
Job
High School
" We are not outraged by blood. We see blood all the time. Blood is pervasive in movies, television, and video games. Yet, we are outraged by the fact that one openly discusses bleeding from an area that we try to claim ownership over. "
Rupi Kaur
Time
Television
Movies
" I wasn't entitled to dream so big. The idea of me being a writer wasn't even possible in my mind. Even when I began to write and first published, I couldn't call myself a writer. "
Rupi Kaur
Myself
Possible
First
" Before I begin to write, I listen to music that inspires me. I listen to folk Punjabi music, sufi music. "
Rupi Kaur
Listen
Music
Before
" I feel social media can be very distracting, unhealthy, and harmful to one's self-confidence. I don't even log on to it on my phone except when I post something on Instagram. "
Rupi Kaur
Self-Confidence
Media
Social Media
" 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. "
Rupi Kaur
Kind
Because
World
" My writing is a product of how I would interact with things that have happened to me or things that have not happened to me but have happened to somebody else. "
Rupi Kaur
Somebody
Things
Me