Vampires Exist

but they’re just normies with migraines

Artwork by Leyelle

escaping the light.

The photophobia—

there it is, that lightning

searing through my left retina.

Soon

glowing street lamps

tinkling chandeliers

comforting night lights

breed blinding auras

every light source

sprouts spikes

growing sharpened stakes 

that penetrate my vision.

Eyelids shrink to slits.

I’m quickly converted

an unwilling 

nocturnal creature

shriveling in sunlight

no longer at home

in a too-bright world.

Withdraw

retreat 

to dark rooms

under dark pillows

into dark corners 

of a 

t  h  r  o  b  b  i  n  g 

brain.

Sleep.

Please, god,

let me sleep it off.

Let me hibernate

during the days

silent in my casket

and seek relief

behind my eyelids.

---

Lindsey Peacock is a born-and-bred Southerner who now calls the Great White North her home. She's a recovering newspaper and magazine journalist and has been published in business and tech publications across North America. She's currently a first reader for ROOM Magazine, and her poems have appeared in Blood and Bourbon, Forget Me Not Press, Deep South Magazine, Wilderness House Literary Review, and The Ekphrastic Review.