Rupi Kaur details how she went from self-published student poet to the top of the New York Times best-seller list with fans like Sam Smith tattooing her artwork, plus she shares a poem from her second collection, The Sun and Her Flowers.
Jimmy: "I am so happy that you're here."
Rupi: "I thought I had to be a pop-star or an actress to get here but somehow poetry is getting me into all the biggest places."
Jimmy: "When I first say 'milk and honey' on the New York Times (best-sellers list), I was like, 'What is this? Who is this girl?' The drawings, the poetry, you do all of it right? What's your story, how did you get published."
Rupi: "
-moved to canada at age 4
-couldn't talk
-starting drawing and using poetry
-starting going to open mic's
-readers demanded a book
-no one would publish
-jk rowling inspiration and then self published, actually by herself
-missed exams but parents understood after the fact
Jimmy: "One famous person got a tattoo from one of your drawings."
Rupi: "Sam Smith... "
Jimmy: "I know you perform live a lot. You have to continue to do that!"
Rupi: "It's when I come to life. I get to be, it sounds really dramatic, I feel like I get to be the woman of my dreams when I'm on stage. This whole different person comes out and it's incredible."
Jimmy: "Could I ask you to read something for us tonight?"
Rupi: "I wrote this piece called 'timeless' because I published my first book 'milk and honey' and a lot of people around me were telling me I need to write a second book, catch the wave of somebody else is gonna come and replace me. I was 22 and it was so much pressure. So I wrote this poem to sort of say, 'Stop, I'll do it when I'm ready.' It's called 'timeless':
They convinced me I only had a few good years leftbefore I was replaced by a girl younger than me.
As though men yield power with age but women grow into irrelevance.
They can keep their lies for I have just gotten started, I feel as though I just left the womb.
My 20's are the warm up for what I'm really about to do.
So wait till you see me in my 30's, now that will be a proper introduction into the nasty, wild woman in me.
How can I leave before the party has started? Rehearsals begin at 40.
I ripen with age, I do not come with an expiration date.
And now for the main event, curtains up at 50.
Let's begin the show.
Jimmy: "Thank you so much. Thank you for making the world a better place."
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