rupi kaur the sun and her flowers A Critical Review of Mainstream Fringe Culture

Rupi Kaur, Simon and Schuster

ISBN Number: 978-1-4711-6582-5

 Price: $24.95

Number of pages: 248

Paperback

Rupi Kaur studied rhetoric at University of Waterloo in Ontario and spent hours with her family dissecting Punjabi Folk poetry. Kaur’s origin and gender are never mentioned directly in her book of poetry and illustrations “The Sun and her Flowers”. She is from a Punjabi background and has lived in Canada with her family since she was four years of age. It seems to me that Kaur may have restrained herself from expressing her identity through her gender and her race, so as not to lose a feeling of authenticity and worldwide relevance. Despite being read differently and favourably abroad from Canada, she finds still finds a strong connection with audiences in her adopted homeland in Canada and America, There is something very big and important happening there, in fact there is a new, flourishing explosion of important, young female poets, a renaissance, strewn with voices from the margins, LGBT, Women from war torn-countries, people from migrant backgrounds and black people that seek to redefine the old antiquated parts of a largely western literary scene and gain acceptance and fame within that demographic, updating the cannon with a burgeoning new voice, within the western world. Kaur leads the trend, this is the scene especially in Canada and America and it is significant part of a new socio-political psyche.

Kaur, was discovered on Instagram and besides being a great writer, her popularity is extremely large, notably in the English-speaking world. Incredibly, according to Book Net Canada, in Canada “between 2016 and 2017 the units sold (poetry) increased by 154%” It is odd perhaps but Rupi Kaur’s work to date has been at the centre of this literary revolution, In Canada and nearby America, the statistics are incredible. She is now a huge literary celebrity in the west, yet this isn’t the complete picture.

Kaur, is an intersectional poet to the west, whom might not be as rigorous or critical as her grass roots poet peers. Kaur has been noticed and perhaps has moved into the mainstream market, she is widely accessible. I’m not sure that all artists are comfortable when this happens as poetry can be personal, political and transformative to the few that need to hear. The work of poets is important as it can hold a necessary candle out for the disenfranchised, outnumbered and marginalised, sometimes this is not fit for nor relevant, to the mass market, the musings may be vulnerable and private for the outnumbered to find solidarity that most could not relate to, this work could not become a monetised commodity. The biggest criticism that intersectional Poets face from academics is that the work is a confessional spectacle and the artist, is guilty of a kind of grotesque flogging of oneself as a product within a market place. Meanwhile the truth might be is that some of us just need to talk when it is relevant, authentic, critical and honest, and then it can be a balm to the culture, individuals and the society that contains it. Disappointingly particularly in the west, seemingly the poets become the sum total of the binaries they represent and consumable at that, there might be the tendency of artists to rely on the same bag of tricks, to contextualise everything within a socio-political framework, it’s a narrow focus and can only be remedied over through making important relevant work accessible.

I feel that “The Sun and Her Flowers” is perhaps cautious about over presenting issues of feminism, gender, race, family and culture as a study of herself and yet it is still categorised and contextualised this way to some degree. The poems are translated into 30 different languages, regardless, the nuances of her Punjabi culture are there in the way Kaur uses words, the lack of capital letters and punctuation, the syntax of which are of her native tongue yet intermingled to create something universal, As a major departure from this critical framework, it’s important to note that contexts change according to audiences. Luckily, there is an worldwide buzz extending beyond the western world, the conversation seems to transcend some of these binaries, the literary criticisms no longer make sense overseas from her new homeland Canada, Kaur travels and talks to people from her old homeland and she is available to others from Non-English speaking countries. If we follow Kaur, in her career, the academic lens is transformed via an international stage, transcending this  traditional western centric interpretation, we are forced to embrace the world if we participate in the conversation.

I enjoyed reading “The Sun and Her Flowers”, I liked the way the words were placed together, small, poignant, psychological snippets, luminous, fragile personal statements, in poetic form that can be read as a stand-alone poem or be followed as a linear emotional journey, or story. In a western context, Kaur, like some of her peers are the subject and the artist all at the same time. It is interesting that in Punjabi, Kaur comes from a different a tradition where folk poetry is verbally delivered by all, the author is always anonymous, these musings were not a commodity that could be bought, in the western world this is not so. Through Kaur, where anonymity was required within her culture of her country of birth, celebrity status has ensued, throughout the world.

Author Jasmin Sara Moret- Former BA student at the University of Sydney and Drama student of Newtown High School of Performing Arts, NSW. Also hold a Diploma of Popular Music Performance from JMC and a Certificate III in Live Production and Services from Brisbane’s College of Theatre Practice. Student of Creative Writing via Griffith University (Open University)