Rupi Kaur: Poetry Pioneer

By: Carmen Feliz

A world tour is most common for musicians to have when they release a highly anticipated album. As for the poetry community it’s an idea in the trial run stages. Rupi Kaur embarked on her world tour with the first city, Ottawa, ON, on May 2nd, 2022. Within the first 30 minutes of her show Kaur states that we know what stand-up comedy looks like and we know the format for a musician’s concert, but what we have to figure out together is a live spoken word poetry event. She was upfront with her fans that she is figuring this out as she goes, so the audience was able to flow with her.

In preparation for her world tour, Kaur made a pioneering decision. She held virtual auditions for each city’s opening act. Fans were able to submit a video of themselves performing their original content and had the chance to be selected to represent their city on the tour. This idea encouraged many people to share their work and the few that were chosen were then able to reach a larger audience.

Rupi Kaur was down to earth at her performance and continued to interact with the audience. She asked for feedback at times and even sat down at the edge of the stage to be closer to her fans. Kaur was a real person; not an unreachable celebrity. As a mental health advocate, her performance included much of her own struggles and healing process. If you haven’t yet attended a Rupi Kaur show, it’s a must see.

*cover photo is taken directly from rupikaur.com