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By Lynette G. Esposito
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If you want to read a book with love on each page, Pillow Thoughts by Courtney Peppernell published by Andrews McMeel Publishing is the one. The two hundred and fifty-six volume is filled with unsentimental verse expressed in almost statement like single stanza poems that are clear and direct.
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The book is divided into ten sections starting with If you are dreaming of someone from page one to twenty-two. On page seven, Peppernell writes in a one-stanza poem:
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We should kiss.
Not because you passed my way by chance
But because you stopped
And I haven’t been the same since.
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This poem sets the place and situation clearly. It is full of emotion but not too sweet and not too spicey…almost perfectly seasoned and it sets the tone for the entire volume. In the second section, If you are in love, the untitled one stanza poem presents a clear image of how love works.
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If I were to build a house
I’d have your arms as the walls
Your eyes as the windows
Your smile as the front door
Your heart as the fireplace
And your soul as my light
I’d place my faith
Knowing I’d finally
Found a home.
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This gives the reader a fresh perspective in viewing the place they live where each part is of the loved one and how good it feels. In section four, If you are lonely, on page eighty-four, in a statement-like one line stanza, Peppernell writes:
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How does loneliness exist with all these souls in the world?
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The question is basically unanswerable but the message is clear. The question as statement is almost paradoxical in that loneliness does exist even in a crowded room. In another one- line stanza poem, Peppernell writes:
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If I had my say and had my life to do again, I’d have moved us closer.
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This poem on page one hundred and thirty in the section If you are missing someone, demonstrates directly and clearly how one might adjust one of the most important things in his or life. In this case, the most important thing Is the us being in a tighter proximity either physically or psychologically she does not say. Closer is the key word.
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In this same section, she writes of distance again on page one hundred and forty-six.
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And in the end all that matters, is the distance, that we are,
creating all this longing.
The butterflies I feel for you, listening to our song on the radio,
The way I miss you even in the early hours of the morning.
Wondering about the day I will have through the night before.
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It is a love poem but without all the wine and roses and just a person reflecting on distance. On page one hundred and sixty-eight, Peppernell gives the reader another statement poem.
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You just have to surround yourself with people who have the same heart as you.
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It sounds like a survival poem without the details. In the section These are for you on page two hundred and forty, the one stanza poem expresses the bone deep love can have for another.
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This is my life
And I will fall for you every day
Because you are my love
And I see you in everything.
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Although this author is sparse with words, she tackles big issues in relationships and expresses clearly the emotion that comes with them. She is skillful at setting up place and situation with few words but with strong impact. This is a book that makes the reader feel good.
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Her books are available from www.andrewsmcmeel.com
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Lynette G. Esposito has been an Adjunct Professor at Rowan University, Burlington County and Camden County Colleges. She has taught creative writing and conducted workshops in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Mrs. Esposito holds a BA in English from the University of Illinois and an MA in Creative Writing and English Literature from Rutgers University. Her articles have appeared in the national publication, Teaching for Success; regionally in South Jersey Magazine, SJ Magazine. Delaware Valley Magazine, and her essays have appeared in Reader’s Digest and The Philadelphia Inquirer. Her poetry has appeared in US1, SRN Review, The Fox Chase Review, Bindweed Magazine, Poetry Quarterly, That Literary Review, The Remembered Arts Journal, and other literary magazines. She has critiqued poetry for local and regional writer’s conferences and served as a panelist and speaker at local and national writer’s conferences. She lives in Mount Laurel, NJ.
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North of Oxford 