I'm a reader that has lost her way. If you, too, used to read and use something as simple as a book to make a powerful impact on your life but have started using the "I have no time" excuse, then continue reading this "review."
If you look up the synopsis of "milk and honey," it'll say something like "this book is poetry split into four sections about love, loss, trauma, abuse, healing, and femininity." Yes, this is true, but this one book holds so much more in it than just those things. The content of this book is so unique that as I drove 85 mph from Little Rock to Pine Bluff, I chose to put my life in danger just because it was that hard to put this book down. It took approximately four hours, give or take, due to distractions, to read this piece of art in its entirety.
Recommended for you
Recommending books was a thing in the past for me, I usually resort to recommending Netflix series, but I fell so deeply in love with this book that I'm gonna make it my job to give you all a snippet of it.
I'll go by each section and share the most enjoyed and relatable pieces:
•the hurting
"you tell me to quiet down cause my opinions make me less beautiful but I was not made with a fire in my belly so I could put it out" "I was made heavy half blade and half silk difficult to forget and not easy for the mind to follow"
"if I knew what safety looked like i would have spent less time falling into arms that were not"
If you've found yourself in a situation where a man felt as though it was okay to make you feel like he was your superior and you'd never be his equal then this section too will speak volumes to you.
•the loving
"i do not want to have you to fill the empty parts of me i want to be full on my own i want to be so complete i could light a whole city and then i want to have you cause the two of us combined could set it fire"
Being a young lady who's months away from being in her 20s, having to go down her timeline seeing engagement after engagement and pregnancy announcements I start feel as though I'm doing something wrong or I'm late for this event we call being an adult. I understand to not rush these events in my life and to be young while I still can. This section alone made me further understand that I will not truly be able to give anyone my all or love as deeply as I can without fully loving myself first.
•the breaking
"i always jump thinking he will catch me and at fall i am hopelessly a lover and a dreamer and that will be the death of me"
"dont mistake salt for sugar if he wants to be with you he will it's that simple"
"you don't see the person they are you see the person they have the potential to be"
"when I love I give them wings but perhaps that isn't such a good thing cause they always tend to leave"
Everything in this section spoke volumes to me, because haven't we all let a person break us when we knew better? Somewhere in reading this poetry, I realized how true it is when older people say "everyone wasn't raised like you" or "everyone don't got the same heart you got" because at times, I struggle with giving people my all when I don't feel like they are giving me the same in return. For once, I also realized that no matter what, I'm gonna continue to give people my all, and if they let me down, then so what? At least I stayed true to myself.
•the healing
"the next time he points out the hair on your legs is growing back remind that boy your body is not his home he is a guest warn him to never outstep his welcome again"
"losing you was the becoming of myself"
"we are all born so beautiful the greatest tragedy is being convinced we are not"
"give to those who have nothing to give to you"
Healing is such a beautiful process. As women we are so much more than the superficial names our male counterparts described us with. Strive to be more than sexy or pretty. Be brilliant. If you decide to be pretty one day, make sure it's for you and only you because doing it for a man will never leave you satisified.
Hopefully you found those bits and pieces as extraordinary as I did. You can pick the book up at your local Barnes and Nobles for $16. You could also get for cheaper as an ebook. If all else fails you could borrow my book, but I just recommend you take time out of your day to treat yourself to this amazing piece of work.
