We yearn to see ourselves reflected, to be spoken to directly and uniquely, but Rupi Kaur’s poetry falls a step short of achieving that. The proliferation of Facebook pages like Subtle Asian Traits and Subtle Curry Traits, which boast hundreds of thousands of members, show the power of speaking directly to a South Asian audience. A Western audience looks at us and sees these stories, but we usually don’t look at ourselves and see them.
I can only speak as a South Asian woman, that is who I am.” However, Kaur tells a singular story of South Asian women, one centered on strict fathers, helpless mothers, longing and loss, suffering and sacrifice, all of which have a tendency to self-tokenize and self-orientalize. Kaur explains, “as a young girl, I needed - perhaps more than anything else. For so many of us, it is unequivocally incredible that a Punjabi truck driver's daughter has had so much global success when caricatures like Apu from The Simpsons have been the most popular portrayals of South Asians most Americans and Canadians engaged with. Whereas Kaur’s popularity is often lauded in Western culture as a major win in representation for South Asian voices, it doesn’t always feel that way within the South Asian community. In essence, Kaur is the latest and most popular poet to join a lineage of South Asian poets who write not for the prestige of publication in a renowned journal or graduate-level literature syllabus, but for the masses. To many, Rupi Kaur has made poetry, a genre that has long been thought to be confined to seventh grade literature classes, accessible to those who would otherwise not engage with it.
The author bestowing this title concedes that he finds her metaphors “impenetrable” and that “her work crumbles under traditional critical scrutiny,” but that’s not the point. Twenty-seven-year old Rupi Kaur-Punjab-born and Toronto-raised -has been crowned Writer of the Decade. But is this really a win for South Asians? Rupi Kaur’s recognition as Poet of the Decade epitomizes the popularity of a particular kind of Asian American story that has been celebrated by Western audiences over the last ten years, one that is presented for consumption by a primarily white audience.
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