About Sara Burge
Sara Burge is the author of Apocalypse Ranch (C&R Press), and her poetry has been published in or is forthcoming from CALYX Journal, Virginia Quarterly Review, The Baltimore Review, The Louisville Review, Prairie Schooner, River Styx, and elsewhere. She’s a three time Best of the Net nominee and teaches creative writing at Missouri State University, where she serves as the Poetry Editor of Moon City Review.
Sara can be found on Instagram as @das_burge and on Facebook as Sara Burge.
Read more of her works online at The Good Life Review, Pacifica, Atticus Review, Up the Staircase Quarterly, as well as at her website.
A Profile of the Author
Notes on “Sexy Fish” and “Harry Styles is the Way”
While these poems aren’t Pandemic Poems, they were written during quarantine, so that time’s vibe seeped into them. “Sexy Fish” grew out of a tipsy conversation with my husband about how much we missed the comradery of the restaurant industry. We met working in restaurants, and while we’d long been out of the biz, the community that came from being in the trenches with other humans—all working toward the singular goal of getting through a shift—was something we sorely missed. This was during lockdown when everyone was isolated and questioning life decisions and turning into little rabid caged animals. So, “Sexy Fish” started as an inebriated quarantine fantasy about trying to make life worthwhile and beautiful again. To have control. We came up with a business plan and everything. Then we went to bed and Sexy Fish the restaurant turned into “Sexy Fish” the poem.
At its core, “Harry Styles Is the Way” is about missing the comfort provided by seemingly trivial things once they’ve disappeared. Nothing new, right? Very pandemic-y. It started out as a more straightforward ode to a Harry Styles cardboard cutout (“standee,” I’ve since learned they’re called). Every time I drove by him, I smiled and said, Hey, Harry Styles! It was like the thrill you get when you hear the owl in your neighborhood and think, There’s our owl! But Harry vanished, and then the pandemic hit. Not seeing Harry on my once-a-week trip to get groceries amplified a sense of hollowness a lot of people were experiencing. I so badly wanted to see him again. Harry Styles as missing savior.
Music, Food, Booze, Tattoos, Kittens, etc.
My husband was a chef for years, so I am blessed to get fantastic food on a regular basis. That man doesn’t just follow recipes. He chefs. Hard. My favorite thing he’s made for me recently is his chile relleno.
I’m mostly a vodka gal, but when fall hits, it’s either Piney River Brewing Company’s Black Walnut Wheat Ale or Mother’s Brewing Company’s Winter Grind. Both breweries are based here in the Ozarks and make all kinds of tastiness. Shout out.
I’m going to get a tattoo of a praying mantis soon—my husband got me a gift card to a local tattoo shop because I’ve been talking about getting a praying mantis tattoo for years. I already have a cat tattoo on my shoulder. It’s a black cat, like my beloved black kitty Maeve (Sweet Kitty) who passed away last October. We now have a gray tuxedo kitty named Lucifurr who lives up to her name, though she is finally allowing me to give her affection without immediately clawing me to bloody shreds.
Sara,
I love your Harry Styles poem so much. The idea of taking the “mundane” and making it so vital is just genius. You have a delightful story-telling voice. I could read your poetry all day!