Courtney Peppernell

I asked you to ride shotgun with me.
I didn’t say hold the shotgun to my heart and
pull the trigger.

Breathe in, breathe out slowly and count to ten. There is no rulebook on how to cope when these things end. You may not feel it now, but things will get better, even if life doesn’t tell you when.

I understand why people take flight from bridges,
I understand why a girl holds a blade to her wrist,
I understand why a grown man cries counting all his lists.
What I wish for the world to understand,
is that in these fragile moments,
patience and love are needed most.

Everyone has a part inside
that aches with a sadness
sometimes you cannot hide.

May your weapon be kindness
Your shield compassion
May the flowers grow again
To sprout love from all this sadness

I feel as though I am always writing my first draft. As though my life is a series of edits that I never have time to complete.

Kissing you feels like the start of a new season, the sun in the early morning, and moonlight reflecting on the ocean. There is never a moment that I don’t think about your lips and how they make me feel when they are on mine.

I wrote this thinking about you

and how if you were a novel,

You’d be an adventure of sadness and happiness

and love lost in between.

You would remind me of the sky and mountains

and constellations and caffeine.

You would be full of pages

that make me laugh and other times fall apart,

You would smell like history with a worn out spine

and ink that could still bleed.

You would always be the novel

I took down from the shelf to read.

A love so fiery it becomes the colour of cherries and candles and lipstick, and they will finally see the world with all its love to give.

What Makes Me Smile

You

in the morning light

after making love

all night.