The irony of loneliness is we all feel it at the same time -- together.

Give to those
who have nothing
to give to you.

To heal
you have to
get to the root
of the wound
and kiss it all the way up.

It is you who became yourself but those before you are a part of your fabric.

You tell me
i am not like most girls
and learn to kiss me with your eyes closed
something about the phrase -- something about
how i have to be unlike the women
i call sisters in order to be wanted
makes me want to spit your tongue out
like i am supposed to be proud you picked me
as if i should be relieved you think
i am better than them.

You look at me and cry
everything hurts

i hold you and whisper
but everything can heal.

I am a museum full of art but you had your eyes shut.

If you have never
stood with the oppressed
there is still time.

What does it matter if my mouth carries two worlds.

People like that I wrote a book -- that's cute, but oh, making a business out of it? That's not nice.

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.

For me, the power of the poetry in 'Milk and Honey' is the feeling you get after finished reading the poem. It's the emotion you feel once you've read the last word, and that is only possible when the diction is easy, and you don't get stuck on every other word, you don't know what the word means.

You have so much
but are always hungry for more
stop looking at everything you don't have
look around at everything you do.

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.

When I was little, my dad told me about Anandpur Sahib and the court of Guru Gobind Singh. That we came from a tradition of poets, warriors and artists who created when it was illegal to create... we're groomed to be reckless in the defense of what we feel is right.

I've seen you in my mother's eyes when she tells me to marry the type of man i'd want to raise my son to be like.

I love Roald Dahl, Sharon Olds, Nizar Qabbani, who is a poet, and Junot Diaz.

I think social media is... really cool in the sense that I don't think that a writer like me would've found a readership if maybe Instagram wasn't there.

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.

You are a mirror
if you continue to starve yourself of love
you'll only meet people who'll starve you too
if you soak yourself in love
the universe will hand you those
who'll love you too.