Trigger Warnings Come with Provocative Poetry

I only became aware of Rupi Kaur this past Friday, when, after sharing a few of my favorite poems with my students in recognition of National Poetry Month, one of my seventh grade girls came up to me at the end of class, put the book in my hands with a smile on her face, and said, “Read this.”

I opened the book and quickly closed it because I had landed on a page of a line drawing that was sexual in nature. My quick thought? “Um, is this book appropriate for a 13 year old? Where did she get this?” I waited until all students had cleared the room, sat at my desk, and began to read. Two words quickly came to my mind: provocative. feminist.

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