Beached

I cover my body in St Ives apricot scrub

not because I want to be blemish free

but so I am like a shell in the sand.

Rainbow shine in the sun.

I want to be walked over not because

I believe I am nothing but because

I want to exist and be anonymous.

To be different kinds of atoms.

I want the option of being treasured

or discarded. To drift with the tide.

To be still but change with time.

To keep the company of the sea.

Girl

I’ve spent the past few years sifting

through Dulux colour cards trying to match

the colour of her eyes. I think of what she

might be doing now. What her daughter

might have grown into. I have a playlist

I’d like to send to her. I’d like her to meet

the me of the present and forget the me

of when we met. I wonder if she thinks of me

too. I’d like her to meet my daughter. I’d like

to remember her name. I’d like her to remember

mine too. I’d like her to know that she taught me

desire quicker than the unexpected fall of rain.

_________________

Kayleigh Campbell is a second year Creative Writing PhD Researcher. Her pamphlet Keepsake was published by Maytree Press in 2019; she was also the winner of the Gloucestershire Poetry Society single poem competition the same year. Most recently, her work has appeared in Butcher’s Dog and Ink, Sweat & Tears.