Bio

 

Isobel Burke is a queer Canadian poet born and raised on Vancouver Island. She was the winner of the 2023 Saints + Sinners poetry contest and was shortlisted for the 2024 Bridport Prize for Poetry. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in publications including PRISM International, The Malahat Review, ANMLY, and Verse Daily. More of her work can be found @poet.unmoored on Instagram.

 

Trigger Warning

i want to be buried alive like a
crowded dive bar. when i can’t

breathe i like to hide under the
bathroom sink because i got too

big for cupboards and the house
beside me finally shut their blinds.

i watch you kiss my thighs from
across the street, and get jealous.

you ask if i am always so distant
and i blow you kisses— kisses,

kisses, kisses. you ask me to please
take the conversation seriously for

once and i ask if i can read your
palm. i draw you secret messages

in code, but when you ask what i see
i say maybe all the stars in heaven

are dead, after all, or maybe we just
can’t help making excuses for why

it’s never the right time.

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