“1.
Kiss boys whose mouths taste like plums and liquorice,
take, but do not give,
do not surrender to the urge to
fall.
2. Kiss girls who are silk beneath your hands,
swell around them until you become waterlogged, heaving.
3. Leave forest fires alone,
do not look for smoke, when your body starts to burn
stay away from trees, get the hose.
4. You are not an apology,
do not treat yourself like one,
your lips are perfect for kissing,
your hips do not spell ‘sorry’.
5. The roar of your voice is a lightning storm.
This is why the sky excites you,
because you were born from it.
6. They'll tell you that you are ruined.
Don't listen. You are not an abandoned train station,
you are poetry in motion.
7. There will be leaves in your hair from climbing trees
and falling from them,
sometimes it is good to hurtle.
8. Loosen yourself into elastic
the next time someone touches you.
Remember: you are not an apology,
you belong solely to yourself.”
— Lessons
