by Hayley Sleigh

Spend an hour draped in
linen bedsheets softly focused
under a protruding lens.
Embolden your rough stubble
and always
underline your scars.

Take a hot cloth and
wipe off the layers of
filth and contradiction.

Beneath each layer of
filter and haze lurks a darkness
that cannot be brightened by
a well-lit cappuccino and
a thirty quid candle.

Tweet.
Let the bluebirds scratch their
words for eternity on your
wobbling skin with their razor
sharp beaks.

Wire your jaw shut with
slowly hatching hashtags
whisper muffled syllables
bo-po, YOLO, FOMO.

If you cry out they may
care to subscribe or
simply like and share.


Hayley Sleigh | @haysleigh | Instagram: @haysleighcreative

Hayley is currently studying for a master’s degree in Creative Writing at University of Nottingham. She also works as a freelance marketing consultant and copywriter. Her writing has been published in The Fiction Pool, The Riff Raff, She Is Fierce, Fearlessly, Literally Stories, Idle Ink and the 2019 Dear Damsels annual. You can find out more about Hayley by visiting her website www.hayleysleigh.com and by following @haysleighcreative on Instagram and @haysleigh on Twitter.  

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