Home Body—Rupi Kaur

Year Read: 2021

Summary:

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Favorite Quotes:

after feeling disconnected

for so long

my mind and body are finally

coming back to each other

-home body

sex is a way for people to

transcend into each other

and come apart

a beautiful earthy expression

it feels like i’m watching my life happen through a fuzzy television screen. i feel far away from this world. almost foreign in this body.

my body is the map of my life

cry it. walk it. write it. scream it. dance it

out of your body.

what we lived through

is living in us

i want a standing ovation

for every person who

wakes up and moves toward the sun

i wrap my holy legs

around his heavy head

and let his tongue swim

toward salvation

-baptize

there are years in me

that have not slept

i excavate my life

package it up

sell it to the world

and when they ask for more

i dig through bones

trying to write poems

the land sprawled its limbs

and said put your feet up

the trees said we will give you life

the air said breathe me in

the earth said

take care of what takes care of you

and we turned our backs on all of them

-betrayal

being the loudest on earth’s playground

doesn’t make us any more

important than

the dirt we crush beneath our feet

we are nothing except air

and fire and water and soil

we are a people

who forget what we are made of

a people who talk about the weather

as if it’s mundane and not magic

as if the oceans

are not holy water

as if the sky

is not a vision

i’m a new person every month

always becoming and unbecoming

only to become again

our fuller selves are not off in the future

they’re right here

in the only moment that exists

i will be searching for answers my whole life

not because i’m a half-formed thing

but because i’m brilliant enoughtokeepgrowing

everything necessary to live a vivid life

already exists in me

but magic doesn’t move like that

your rushing is

suffocating the masterpieces

baking inside you

your job is to

show up for the process

be patient and when it’s time

the universe will use you again

on days you can’t hear yourself

slow down to

let your mind and body

catch up to each other

– stillness

you are one person

but when you move

an entire community

walks through you

– you go nowhere alone

the world is changing

can you feel it

undressing itself

isn’t it funny how you can

occupy a space without

being in touch with it

there is a conversation

happening inside you

pay deep attention

to what your inner world

is saying

i dive into the well of my body

and end up in another world

everything i need

already exists in me

there’s no need

to look anywhere else

– home

i will never have

this version of me again

let me slow down

and be with her

– always evolving

your beauty is undeniable

but everything sacred and ancient

in you

is even more stunning