Planes, Planes, Planes.

Planes, planes, planes.

Smile.

Not too bright. Dress up. 

Don’t appear sullen or smelly or... fat.

Stand tall look them in the eye. 

Apologetic head tilt. 

Get seatbelt extender. Secret it away, 

quick, 

quicker, 

shit it’s dropped.

Breathe in, suck in your gut, walk sideways down the aisle. 

Apologise profusely if you accidentally touch any one.

Faster.

Slide in your seat.
Attach extender as quickly as possible.
Smile. 

More. 

But fast.


Apologise to the man next to you. 

Try not to worry about the grunt you receive back. 

Sit still don’t move. 

Itchy leg? 

Tough. 

Suck it up buttercup. 

Don’t move. 

Take up as little space as possible. 

Thighs squeezed together, knees squeezed together, ankles squeezed together. 

Don’t sniff. 

Don’t smell 

Don’t twitch 

Don’t breathe 

Don’t...be...


Refuse water, coffee, tea, biscuit, lolly... 

You take up too much space already you don’t need those, what will they think. 

Adding to the obese mass next to them 

already inconveniencing them, 

marring their view, 

their perfect day with your 

disgusting. 

Fat. 

Presence. 

Don’t breathe too loud. 

Don’t move. 

Can’t get cramp.

Just. Sit. Still.


Make yourself small, 

make yourself invisible, 

creep away from being. 

You don’t fit in. 

You don’t fit. 

You don’t. 

You.

You did this.

You

Michaela Sheehan

2020

Flying always brings up a bit of anxiety for me as a big person. This I wrote straight after a flight I took by myself. I can't remember where I was going but I was by myself.