Content warning: emetophobia, discussion of eating disorders.

SC: What’s in your bag?

BB: In my black bag shaped like a small horse I named Pal(entine), there is:

1. Empty bottle of Amoxi-Clav. I just took the last dose of my first course of antibiotics at lunch. I start another course this evening because my face is all messed up and painful from an infection in my jaw triggered by breaking a molar while I was eating granola (well…probably from having anorexia and bulimia for 16 years)

2. Glucometer because I’m diabetic 🆒️😎

3. Admelog (rapid acting Insulin pen) and 2 unopened needle caps because my pancreas is dying/dead

4. Belmonts Kingsized cigarettes (I fully endorse and condone smoking especially if you have a disease that damages your blood vessels)

5. My keys with a leather keychain that has RESIST engraved in it from Evan Ducharme and a jingle charm from CJ

6. My bic in a leather holder from Raven’s Veil

7. 5 freaking bucks (best Canadian bill because it has space robots on it)

8. Mac Lipliner in Cork

9. Sephora lip plumper in 01 Fever

10. ELF glossy lip stain in Cinnamon Dreamz

11. MAC Squirt (????????) Glossy Stick in Lower Cut

12. Mac lipstick in Iconic Photo

SC: What’s your ideal writing setup?

BB: I don’t have one. I usually write in a journal or on my laptop in unhealthy positions on the couch. Or sometimes I write on my phone in uncomfortable places like the 99 B-Line at rush hour. If I was imagining an ideal writing set up, I’d have a nice lap desk for my comfortable but terribly broken couch. It would have a cup holder and a phone stand built in to it so I could multi-task and it would look suitably modern but cute. Right now, I’m answering these questions wrapped in a fleece blanket from Costco with a bowl of honeycrisp apple slices beside me.

SC: What’s your guilty pleasure?

BB: Anyone who knows me has experienced the intensity of my passions whether they be Paradise Lost or the first responder procedural 9-1-1 (airing on ABC Thursdays at 5PM PST). I’ve always felt an immense amount of shame about my obsessive personality. I spent most of my childhood feeling evil and/or monstrous for what I loved and how I loved them because I was raised in a non-denominational Christian doomsday cult. Everything I loved was either pathologized or was judged as sinful and thus would land me in capital-H Hell (or I’d be Left Behind during The Rapture and then sent to Hell). I’m actively trying to make pleasure something I feel no guilt about. I’ve been unsuccessful so far but I’ve been trying to find joy in how passionate I am by creating safe places to let out all of my obsessions (if you see a 9-1-1 meme aggregate account, that’s definitely not me…).

SC: Where do most of your poems start — a line, an image, a title?

BB: Most of my poems start with an image and then a feeling. Right now, the poems I’m writing have begun with colour. I’ve been inspired by the weird glowing green of text on early computers (one of my mom’s boyfriend’s collected them when I was a kid). These computers were never connected to the internet but I could play solitaire on them and type gibberish on the dusty keyboards and pretend to be hacking the mainframe in The Matrix or whatever. I’ve been remembering the light blue and white of the old LiveJournal communities I frequented. I’ve been feeling sad for my younger self, the kid who watched the blurry rainbow pixelation of the ancient television we had in the living room. I’d secretly watch Queer as Folk and Buffy The Vampire Slayer, sitting up close to the screen with the volume low and my hand on the dial so I could turn it off if I heard a single footstep on the stairwell. All these colours make me feel sad and lonely and then dissociative and that’s where I’m writing from at the moment.

SC: How did you decide on the title Pitiful?

BB: I named the book Pitiful because I thought it was funny. The title came to me after I saw a professor of mine, Sheryda Warrener, on a bus. She saw me struggling to balance a laptop and a bunch of heavy bags on my knees on a crowded bus at rush hour so I could finish an assignment for a creative non-fiction class. She simply said “Brandi, you love to suffer.” I thought that was so funny! That’s absolutely pitiful. That’s Pitiful!

SC: The poems in this collection, in voice and impact, are often anything but pitiful. What role did this apparent contradiction play in putting together the collection?

BB: I wanted to refuse victimhood while speaking about a previous version of myself that desperately wanted to have that status. To me, good, perfect victimhood looked like the white girls I went to treatment with who seemingly had caring families and perfect lives. I know now that no one is ever rescued from themselves regardless of wealth or race. Being rich/middle-class (the same thing to me when I was a kid) or white or having two relatively caring parents does not and did not protect those girls from the world and their own responsibility to act within it. It helps, certainly. But I chose to destroy myself to punish &/or use my body to communicate to people who didn’t notice, care, or (even if they did care) couldn’t ever really stop me. I chose every time and isn’t that kind of wonderful? To have agency in your tragic story?

SC: What role does abjection play in your writing process?

BB: Anxiety and waiting. So much of having an eating disorder is waiting. Waiting to have the time/space to binge and purge. Waiting until 8PM when you can have your one safe meal a day. Waiting on lists for places in treatment centres or hospitals and in ERs and, finally, waiting to die (or more likely, to get older and sadder) as you watch everyone you know fall away from you. Your friends and family grow and move beyond the arrested development the eating disorder locks you in. The abject comes in the fluids of eating disorders, in the liminal body, the loss and gain and loss and gain. It’s in the horror of realising you’ve turned yourself into a porcelain doll, one that ends up forgotten on a dusty shelf in a spare room. The boredom of it all, the boredom that feels like terror and so dangerous. I think writing keeps me away from that feeling and that state, actually.

SC: At times, in your work, parasociality borders on worship. I really relate to this and find it fascinating. the connection to your title might not be intuitive for some readers. How does this parasociality relate to the idea of pitifulness?

BB: Obsession and mimicry. Obsession and poor imitation. Obsession and possession and disgust with yourself and then disgust with the object of your obsession. The push and pull of that cycle is pitiful. It’s absurd and silly and deadly serious too. It’s so many huge feelings and maladaptive reactions to those feelings. It’s a funny joke too.

SC: Our mutual pal/poetry crush Molly Cross-Blanchard ends her collection Exhibitionist with a poem titled “they will call this vulnerable,” which expresses how inadequate and often lazy the term “vulnerable” can be, especially when applied to the work of people of marginalized identities. Instead of vulnerable, what word(s) would you use to describe the process of crafting this collection and putting it out into the world?

BB: I chose what to include and not include in this collection. I need people to remember that. You are being manipulated. You are being narrativized. This is a story of a feeling that only exists in the past for me. Sometimes it was created out of careful lies to build a better story. I’m not being vulnerable. I am making choices with my own artistic agency and my knowledge and awareness of an art I’ve practiced and studied for years. This book is about anti-resilience. It’s inaction and action and consequence either way. It’s dirty and wet and pathetic because I want it that way.

SC: You and I have talked a lot about the idea of breath in poetry. This collection circles the idea of bulimia, which makes me wonder what evacuation means to you, in poetry?

BB: Bulimia for me was more about numbness than evacuation. I physically vomited (a lot), which is a kind of evacuation of course, but it was in service of complete nothingness. In Pitiful, I wanted to play with abstraction and rely less heavily on metaphor (although I still use metaphor quite a lot). I wanted to break some of the poetry “rules” I’ve followed. My poetic practice isn’t cathartic at all. I experience catharsis when I dance or exercise or watch a movie that moves me to tears or laugh so hard I can’t breathe with my friends. Really, Pitiful could only be written once I had no trace of an eating disorder in my life. I have been abstinent from any symptoms for over eight years now, but I’ve tried writing about eating disorders for a long time (nothing came of those half-formed poems and essays). I was too close to see anything meaningful in that part of my life.

You have an extensive understanding of craft in poetry. What advice would you give to an emerging poet?

BB: Learn the poetry “rules” and terms. Don’t stray from those “rules” for the first few years of your practice. Write a lot. Read more. Read the canon and the non-canon. Read widely from different eras and different genres. Keep a notebook if you can. Find someone you trust to edit your work. Know yourself and what kind of feedback you want and at what time (do you want praise to encourage your practice? do you want blunt edits that don’t sugarcoat anything? do you like to revise before sharing your work or do you like to write a draft and throw it into someone else’s hands?). Don’t rush to publish (I did and I regret it).

SC: This was so fun. Love you, BB. Anything else you want to add?

BB: Listen to my playlists, they’re cool and good :)

That’s all for now. Thanks for reading, and thanks, Brandi, for your insights and jokes and thoughts and everything in between.

P.S. Submit to our open call, judged by Zahra Mayeesha. This contest is an excellent opportunities for early-career writers to get their names and words out there. We’d love to read your work!

Hello PTKers. We’re back with a bang. The inimitable Brandi Bird has graced us with a fresh poem as part of their PTK takeover in honour of their brand-new book (hot off the presses as of yesterday), Pitiful (House of Anansi, 2026).

Also, check out and submit to our open call, judged by Zahra Mayeesha. This contest is an excellent opportunities for early-career writers to get their names and words out there. We’d love to read your work!

That’s all for now.

Without further ado, enjoy this firecracker from BB.

Love,

S

[PARA]SUICIDE
by
Brandi Bird

Man is nothing else but what he makes of himself
—Jean-Paul Sartre

borderline fuckgirl 
automaton fixed 
belief throbbing false 
against white cardstock 
cradled hanging hanged 
from blue lanyards pulse 
point beats Forever21 morse 
code polka dot eeeeeeeeeeeeeee-
eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
over fuckgirl’s sweaty 
forehead 

&

her hair is in mats
strands stuck 
between swollen 
gums their pallor 
their shift red 
then bloody 
sanctuary 
sit quiet 
for a while 

& 

beg to stay 
ask fluorescent 
lights pathetic 
questions all metallic 
in fuckgirl’s mouth
just a touch too much
too loud for staff
the rod the shaft

&

fuckgirl gossips 
in pale rooms talks 
woodland paintings 
bright bird gossip 
chirps paint babble & 
fuckgirl googles real 
morrisseau because 
did they check did they 
validate the signature 
hospital art dealer hospital
curator did they authenticate 
or did they just take 
what they could get fuckgirl 
walks precise outlines & 
stretches like ribbon 
candy not serious not 
really she is sheer she is 
a cellophane gallow 
the romance the 
gesture the iterative 
practice of fantasy 
where fuckgirl 
is beautiful & 
suffering &
so talented & 
remarkably intelligent & 
most importantly 
she is attractive 
& so so lovely 
so loved by everyone 
& even strangers weep 
when she swallows all 
the white pills inside 
their orange 
transparencies
their bottles 
empty emptying 
down her wet 
pink throat

& no 

no one would look inside her mouth  

& no 

no one would grip her jaw so fine & so frail 
so faint & growing fainter & so so brave 

but

fuckgirl closure 
can’t go home 
but can’t stay here
fuckgirl doe or stag
fuckgirl countdown 
no nurse watches 
that closely no 
true danger 
reject
danger

&

fuckgirl still pretends 
to read an anthology 
of existential philosophy 
after post up blue gown hallway 
stretcher no risk analysis no live 
current no electric shock just 
glitched out flash 
malfunction ERROR 
ERROR

& 

nothing else 
but sent home 
stable sent home 
no voucher no bus 
ticket just one prepaid 
cellphone in left breast 
pocket check it’s there
over & over what she 
makes of herself normal 
sinus rhythm over normal 
fuckgirl inhalation 
her tachycardia her inhale 
miss you’re causing a scene
you’re causing a scene miss
miss you’re causing a scene

There’s nothing in the world I love more than an opinionated woman. I first met Zahra in a fiction workshop (Sophie was there too!). In this windowless room, under the flickering fluorescent lights, Zahra’s hand was always raised, eyes focused, ready to talk. She asked amazing questions, wasn’t afraid to disagree. Zahra brought to the discussions so much perspective, nuance (and maybe one too many Stephen King quotes). We were paired as peer-editors the following term and sometimes when I was talking through my process Zahra would exclaim “GIRL! YOUR BRAIN!!”. Intellectual admiration is truly the fertilizer by which all literary friendships grow, and quickly Zahra and I realized we were in deep shit. When Zahra proposed taking over PTK with this open call, all I could think was:

GIRL! YOUR BRAIN!!!! 🧠

I’m so grateful and lucky to be able to continue this project with and for joy, love, and friendship. Please join PTK as we pick Zahra’s brain on the male loneliness epidemic, submission best practices, and the ultimate showdown between Tumblr, AO3, & LiveJournal!

Interview with a Man Hater*

*clickbait…ish

PTK: …so like… how are we spelling the title exactly…? DeCentering? DeCENTRING?

ZM: IDK good spelling is for colonisers.

PTK: Ok, word. Let’s start the interview.

PTK: Hello Zahra Mayeesha! How are you? Who are you?? Why do you hate men so much??? Can you share your god-honest true self with us?

ZM: Oh man (hah). I’ll have to try. To start: I’m a little baby writer trying to make and curate art that people can have feelings about. Baby because I only really shifted into professionally pursuing writing, and the arts in general, as recently as 2023. Before that, I was a researcher in sexuality studies. I’m also an MFA student at UBC, and aspirational functioning human being… though most days, stuck at the aspirational stage.

Also, I don’t hate men… personally. I have men I love dearly, whom I consider my friends, with gritted teeth or otherwise! I’m just also a militant misandrist and will be arming myself during the 2050 Gender Wars.

PTK: What made you wanna collab with us?

ZM: I stalked this brilliant person from my first semester fiction class and came across the obnoxious explosion of memes and poetry that is the PTK IG. And then we became friends (muhahah) and I was really wanting to work with the zine, but wanted the right project for it. One day, I was high and watching Mina Le videos and this guest issue suddenly came into my head, fully formed. And then it began seeping out like air from a popped balloon, even as I was frantically scribbling notes down:

And the joke title was enough to build the entire issue around. You get it too, right?

PTK: What kind of work are you looking forward to receiving?

ZM: Silly, flippant, angry, real, smart, emotionally honest. Filled to the brim with girlisms and gayisms. That being said, I feel the need to provide a disclaimer: contrary to what it seems (and the title of this interview), I don’t necessarily want works that simply descend into a misandrist rant. I do want to read about the complicated connections, identities and existences we all inhabit in relation to the patriarchal men/systems in our lives. Think anti-patriarchal > misandrist.

I do want to read about the complicated connections, identities and existences we all inhabit in relation to the patriarchal men/systems in our lives.

PTK: Other than PTK, what are some other mags you love?

ZM: Truthfully, I’m not great at keeping up with literary magazines. Maybe because I’m from Dhaka, Bangladesh, where we don’t have that many local literary mags, and I couldn’t exactly afford subscriptions to international ones. Plus, the rest of the world just felt too big to explore by myself. That being said, some of my favourites are Joyland Magazine, Strange Horizons, Socrates on the Beach, House of Arcanum and Nightmare Magazine. They all do their own specific niche perfectly, as if they were always meant to do exactly that.

PTK: When did you decide you wanted to work as an editor?

ZM: Like many of my most important life decisions, on a whim and a chance. In my undergraduate career, I had the opportunity to join the founding team of my university’s student-led periodical (which are not very common in Bangladesh). I’m very anal-retentive about copyedits and would volunteer to help with proofing even as a staff writer; this was either annoying or very impressive to the editorial board who, upon their graduation, made me Senior Editor and head of the writing department, whence I went mad with power.

No, actually, I just really enjoyed the experience and learned a lot of skills in a very short timeframe, and decided this was what brought me great satisfaction: working with other writers and creatives. I’ve been incredibly lucky to have gotten my wish in short order.

PTK: We heard through the grapevine that you have a storied past (pun intended) in fanfiction. How would you tag your work on AO3?

ZM: #inconvenient women #no beta we die like men #implied sexual content #but actually its just cannibalism and ghosts #and obsessive mother-daughter trauma #this is on the verge of purple prose #sorry not sorry

PTK: How do your past experiences in academia and fanfic impact your approach to writing?

ZM: I think it might be more accurate to say that my past experiences have influenced my approach to the purpose of my writing. They’re such wildly different worlds and yet have much in common. I think that academia taught me how to feel comfortable in being nerdy and hyperspecific about subjects I care about; and that whatever work I might produce is always building on and in conversation with the wide, deep history of human knowledge. Fanfiction spaces showed me that we welcome and are enriched by stories, no matter how small or repetitive, and that there is intense joy and connection to be found in being completely and utterly indulgent when we write.

I am unique; I am also one of many; I am part of a collective of writers reaching across space, time and the internet to say, “oh my god, same!!“

PTK: How are you contributing to the “male loneliness epidemic”? How do you feel about it even being labeled an epidemic?

ZM: Personally, I don’t engage with men unless they pass the litmus test of being able to initiate a conversation with me about anything that has nothing to do with them. It’s funny how many fail that test.

I’m very annoyed at it being labeled and treated like a huge social problem; it feels like a mislabelling to me. I think we’re witnessing what the fourth aspect of alienation looks like in late-stage capitalism: we’re all fucking lonely. Not just men. We’re all being forced into deeper forms of alienation and narcissism by the technologies and superstructures controlling our lives. But somehow, it’s male pain and women’s refusal to mitigate that pain anymore that is the “new” social ill.

I think […] we’re all fucking lonely. Not just men. We’re all being forced into deeper forms of alienation and narcissism by the technologies and superstructures controlling our lives.

Here’s my attempt-to-be-nuanced soapbox rant. Social movements of the twentieth and twenty-first century made it possible for people on the gender spectrum to explore and evolve their femininities and masculinities; and so women, enbies, transfolk, queer folk all have to different degrees. For example, the concept of womanhood evolved to subsume traditionally masculine virtues and flaws; heteronormativity evolved to encompass these changes. But cishet men “decided” to be left behind. I put that in quotes because I fully respect how powerful a drug patriarchy must be. To misquote a men’s rights activist, “When you’re accustomed to privilege, equality must feel like oppression.” And when every propagandist tool (social media feeds, mass media, your dad) is telling you that women are the causes of and also the answer to your problems, it’s probably improbable to feel otherwise. But, my god, have some balls and choose solidarity over privilege and grow the fuck up already.

PTK: Ok, let’s say someone is reading this interview and has the perfect piece in mind. But they have never submitted for publication before. Do you have any hot tips for first-time submitters?

ZM: Keep your cover letter short, sweet and direct. Mention content warnings whenever necessary; and always mention if it’s a simultaneous or exclusive submission. I’d recommend having a template that you can adjust. I personally prefer including a one-sentence description of my submission, but this isn’t necessary for most mags. You can also include a bio if you have one, but always keep it below 50 words; editors will ask for your full bio if you get accepted. Always number your pages. Submit prose in .doc (let’s readers adjust formatting for their accessibililty preferences) and poetry/hybrid in .pdf (maintains the formatting of your work). You don’t need to include your contact details in the document, unless the mag explicitly asks for it (we’re in the digital age after all!).

I find these reduce the amount of friction in the submission process, both for the submitter and for the readers and editors receiving your work.

PTK: Ok. Let’s get to our burning questions: What’s in your bag? What’s your favorite color? Who’s your favorite writer? What’s your guilty pleasure show?

ZM: I’m chronically in a hurry at all times, so the bare necessities are always packed… lipbalm, lactaid pills, safety pins, wet n wild’s megaliner, a backup set of jhumkas. Blue is my favourite colour. I’ve reappropriated it <3. My faves haven’t changed in almost a decade, which probably says something about me psychologically, but they’re Terry Pratchett and Tamsyn Muir (been a big fan of the latter since the Homestuck Shipping Olympics (ahdkjfhakj this is feeling like showing my panties on the internet jfc)). I lovehatewatch Grey’s Anatomy and Bridgerton. I have a lot of feelings about them.

PTK: We usually end our interviews with a game of fuck marry kill, so here we go: fuck marry kill LiveJournal, Tumblr, AO3?

ZM: Oh noooooo this is hard. Okay, okay, I can do this. I have to marry Tumblr. It’s like, my soulmate, my secretkeeper, my childhood best friend. AO3 is so sexy and so important and I used to tagwrangle for them, so I’m going to fuck them (oop inappropriate boundaries). Which means, and this hurts my heart, that I have to kill LiveJournal. Internet culture would be nothing without LiveJournal so I understand the gravity of this, but in my defense, I think capitalism got there first anyway.

PTK: Finally… will you be our best friend now?

ZM: Girl… it would be my honour :’)

PTK and Zahra skip away holding hands 🧑‍🤝‍🧑

📣 OPEN CALL: d̶e̶centering men ft. Zahra Mayeesha

Submission Guidelines

Poetry Trapper Keeper will be open for submissions from March 8th - May 8th, 2026 (or, until we hit our reading cap).

We are only accepting submissions through our submission platform. Email submissions will not be read.

We want previously unpublished, original work. No AI-generated material, thank you next. Our definition of published is if it has been previously selected by an editor and/or coven of tastemakers. If you’ve published your poem on your blog, social media, or whispered it to your crush on a whim, we consider that unpublished work, so feel free to send it our way (maybe tell us where you’ve shared it before so we get the vibe).

Submissions can be simultaneous as long as you disclose.

Submissions must be primarily in English, but can have non-English languages in text with or without translation.

Multiple submissions by the same author(s) in different categories is okay, but not in the same category; we will only consider your first submission in the each category.

Collaborative work is cool, just let us know if it’s from more than one person we should credit. Collaborations with AI do not count as collaborations. Put your chatbot away! Hold hands with a human!

SUBMIT HERE!

Submission Categories:

Poetry

• One poem, 1-3 pages only.

• Work with experimental/hard to replicate formatting is welcome but will be considered only if we can come up with a publishing plan with the poet!

Fiction & Nonfiction

• Preferred length is 1000-2000 words. Submissions that are 2000-3000 words will be read but will only be published if exceptional.

• Submissions beyond 3000 will not be read.

Comics

• Preferred length is 1-5 pages.

• Color ok! Though keep in mind depending on final publication format we might not be able to replicate full color work.

What else do I need to know?

• This issue will be accepting anonymous submissions.

• To ensure fairness in the selection process, please do not include your name in your submission (this includes in the FILE NAME!!!).

• Please save your submissions as CATEGORY_TITLE.

• You should include the name you’d like to be published under in your cover letter!

• Selected work will be published digitally on PoetryTrapperKeeper.com. Once selected will work with you to ensure the work goes out in a way which feels right to you.

• If you’ve never been published before, that’s totally fine! We do not take publication history into account when selecting work.

• We would love to publish a one-off physical issue. This is yet to be confirmed. If selected we will contact you with options and you will have a right to an opinion on any future printing (though we will use a majority vote and analysis of viability as an ultimate deciding factor).

• If you get selected for publication on PTK, we won’t “own” the first rights to your work (like most publications do). We don’t believe in owning anyone’s creative work for any amount of time. This means if your same piece gets republished elsewhere in the future, we don’t require you to credit us as the original publisher. You can if you want to, & we would love you for it, but you do you.

• Either way, all copy and publication rights of the work will remain yours.

• If you have questions you may DM us on IG or email poetrytrapperkeeper@gmail.com; however, due to time constraints we may not answer you in time. Please submit anyway! If your submission needs to change based on our own late answer we might allow you to resubmit.

Submissions that don’t follow these guidelines won’t be read or responded to (sorry).

See what we've published before!

Keep your eyes peeled for more PTK, coming soon!

Hello! Happy(?) 2026! We took a while to come back because we wanted to come back with a vengeance (because there is so much to be vengeful of right now gestures at the news). Resistance is never futile, so we are starting out this new cycle by asking for your voice, your words, your feelings via an open call collaboration extravaganza...

Poetry Trapper Keeper opens submissions for upcoming issue d̶e̶centering men, guest edited by Zahra Mayeesha (PRISM international, Small World City).

Yesterday, my friend shared a Facebook post describing the modern dating pool for straight women: a list that sounds like an obstacle course. Almost a decade after the #MeToo movement, and two decades after activist Tarana Burke first coined the call to action, the cultural aftershocks seem to have resulted in the rise of the manosphere, their pet project “male loneliness epidemic” and a new generation of proudly misogynist men. And reactions to this return to conservative gender normativity have been met with even more irritation and disdain.

Enough of feminism and misandry, we’re told. Today, we need to think about the pitiful cishet men and their gender troubles…

So let’s indulge them. What do your lives look like today in this obstacle course? Your loneliness and your relationships, romantic/familial/platonic or otherwise? Your fears and your hurts? Your loves and your hopes?

We want your jokes, your theories, your emotional honesty. Show us your imperfect attempts to decenter men.

We’re curious about your world’s reaction to this epidemic, the people having to deal with the consequences of male loneliness, the experiences around their void. Send us your poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and comics that explain/fantasize/demand/wonder/yell/whisper your non-men-men-centred reality.

Ready to submit? Click here!

Submission Guidelines

Poetry Trapper Keeper will be open for submissions from March 8th - May 8th, 2026 (or, until we hit our reading cap).

We are only accepting submissions through our submission platform. Email submissions will not be read.

We want previously unpublished, original work. No AI-generated material, thank you next. Our definition of published is if it has been previously selected by an editor and/or coven of tastemakers. If you’ve published your poem on your blog, social media, or whispered it to your crush on a whim, we consider that unpublished work, so feel free to send it our way (maybe tell us where you’ve shared it before so we get the vibe).

Submissions can be simultaneous as long as you disclose.

Submissions must be primarily in English, but can have non-English languages in text with or without translation.

Multiple submissions by the same author(s) in different categories is okay, but not in the same category; we will only consider your first submission in the each category.

Collaborative work is cool, just let us know if it’s from more than one person we should credit. Collaborations with AI do not count as collaborations. Put your chatbot away! Hold hands with a human!

Submission Categories:

Poetry

• One poem, 1-3 pages only.

• Work with experimental/hard to replicate formatting is welcome but will be considered only if we can come up with a publishing plan with the poet!

Fiction & Nonfiction

• Preferred length is 1000-2000 words. Submissions that are 2000-3000 words will be read but will only be published if exceptional.

• Submissions beyond 3000 will not be read.

Comics

• Preferred length is 1-5 pages.

• Color ok! Though keep in mind depending on final publication format we might not be able to replicate full color work.

What else do I need to know?

• This issue will be accepting anonymous submissions.

• To ensure fairness in the selection process, please do not include your name in your submission (this includes in the FILE NAME!!!).

• Please save your submissions as CATEGORY_TITLE.

• You should include the name you’d like to be published under in your cover letter!

• Selected work will be published digitally on PoetryTrapperKeeper.com. Once selected will work with you to ensure the work goes out in a way which feels right to you.

• If you’ve never been published before, that’s totally fine! We do not take publication history into account when selecting work.

• We would love to publish a one-off physical issue. This is yet to be confirmed. If selected we will contact you with options and you will have a right to an opinion on any future printing (though we will use a majority vote and analysis of viability as an ultimate deciding factor).

• If you get selected for publication on PTK, we won’t “own” the first rights to your work (like most publications do). We don’t believe in owning anyone’s creative work for any amount of time. This means if your same piece gets republished elsewhere in the future, we don’t require you to credit us as the original publisher. You can if you want to, & we would love you for it, but you do you.

• Either way, all copy and publication rights of the work will remain yours.

• If you have questions you may DM us on IG or email poetrytrapperkeeper@gmail.com; however, due to time constraints we may not answer you in time. Please submit anyway! If your submission needs to change based on our own late answer we might allow you to resubmit.

Submissions that don’t follow these guidelines won’t be read or responded to (sorry).

SUBMIT HERE!

If accepted online publication is guaranteed on the PTK newsletter and social media channels. Possibility of print publication to be discussed further down the line.

Please note that we can’t currently offer payment for publication, though published pieces will be posted and celebrated on our website and socials. this is currently a passion project run by grad students, so we encourage that submissions be passion projects too — works that you’d just like to see out in the world.

We do accept tips, which are separate from, and not related to the status of, submissions. Suggested tips are 3-5$ and can be sent to:

Tip Jar

https://www.paypal.me/angelbabysoph

pls add a little note that it’s for PTK.

This is greatly appreciated to help us maintain the website overhead (approximately $350CAD/year), tipping is not mandatory and will have no impact on our selection process. No one will be turned away from lack of funds.

💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖

This is so exciting! Tune in next week for an interview with Zahra, tips on getting published, and a behind the scenes glimpse at a spelling conundrum… until then!

xoxo, Larissa, Sophie, & Zahra

Hi little elves! Hi Santa! S + L here (Soph and Larissa for the uninitiated). Here’s Poetry Trapper Keeper’s definitive (jk, poets can’t write anything definitive) holiday gift guide.

REMINDER to please double-check that the items you choose from these lists are BDS-friendly and purchased from BDS-approved stores (local, if possible!) We’ve done our best to check these out in advance, but the BDS list is (sadly) often expanding, and we miss things! For example, if you get any books, make sure you boycott Indigo. ALSO: these here are NOT affiliate links! We aren’t making money from your purchases (except for PTK stuff and Sophie’s book!), this list is meant to guide and inspire <3

💋

No-Buy/Low-Buy and Intangible Gifts

Because consumerism is very last year.

• A really juicy piece of gossip.

• A ten-minute voice note full of flattery and admiration for the giftee.

• A voice note humming or singing their favourite song.

• Offer a skill-share: an IOU for mending, editing, massage — share what you’re good at.

• Take something off their plate: offer an hour of your time for child care or help with an errand.

• Put something on their plate: make them a meal, or buy them their favourite ingredients if they like to cook.

• Print out something they’re always Googling: game rules, recipes, etc. Put it on nice paper or scrapbook it into a booklet.

💋💋

$10 or less

For the poet on a budget.

• Thrift them a cute picnic blanket and/or picnic basket, wash/clean it, and add a bottle of something sparkly if you’re feeling fancy.

• A personalized tarot reading (three cards + a handwritten explanation of the meaning… If you gift this to multiple people on your list, it’s pretty cheap for each one!)

• Hair tinsel, facial glitter, or another nontraditional beauty item.

• A thrifted or homemade ashtray or sun catcher. (More cute thrifted gifts in this video).

• Schylling NeeDoh Nice Cube (everyones looooves Larissa’s), or another cute fidget toy.

• Put together a little collection of hair accessories for them.

• Manifestation candles.

💋💋💋💋

A little fancier

For winning the White Elephant.

• A collection of jams, honeys, meads… Whatever you think they’d enjoy a flight of.

• Replacements for something you know they use a lot of (e.x. a favourite scented soap, coffee, tea. Get a few and make it a gift basket!)

• A locket with a photo in it (of you? their pet? their ex?).

• A framed photo you know they’ll love.

• A toiletries bag — maybe with some personalized toiletries inside (lip gloss, tweezers, eyelash curler…)

• A custom charm bracelet (many bead stores will let you make these on-site, often for no extra cost). Sophie gave Larissa one for their Bach’gift and it was their something new on their wedding day!

• D&D dice or playing cards from a local/independent maker.

• A novelty crib board.

• Merch from their favourite store (e.g. a trucker hat from the gas station you always stop at on road trips, or a tote bag from their local coffee shop).

• A plant in a pot (there are lots of adorable pots at most thrifts, too!) Reminder: make sure it’s safe for any pets/babies they have around the house and any allergies they have.

• Herbs or veggies they can easily keep alive in a windowbox garden.

• A well-made KBeauty sunscreen, toner, or moisturizer.

• A really good pen.

💋💋💋💋💋

Fanciest

Okay, Lord Byron.

• A SAD lamp (especially if they live somewhere dark and gloomy, like we do).

• A cozy robe and/or slippers.

• A Polaroid camera or digital camera, secondhand if possible.

• Grip trainers, weights, bala bangles, yoga mats — for your friends who are trying to get fit this year.

• Matching nail polishes (one for you + one for them!)

• An at-home kareoke mic.

• A sunset lamp or fairy lights.

• A nice mirror they can admire themselves in.

• Bet on them: pay for their submission fee to a contest, application fee for a school, etc.

🫧🫧🫧🫧

Activities and Experiences

• Comedy show or concert tickets.

• A personalized colour reading.

• A tintype or photoshoot.

• A year’s subscription to a podcast Patreon, a substack, letterboxd, Criterion, or a streaming service.

🫂

Solidarity and Mutual Aid

The gift that keeps on giving.

• UNRWA

• Seva.org

• Umma Foundation

• A donation to an educator or activist they love.

🖼️

Art

Yay!!!

• Personalized pottery or wall art from local/independent makers.

• Small crocheted items like hair bows, plant holders, or leg warmers.

• A cross-stitch kit.

• An adult colouring book.

• A pencil, paint, or marker set.

📓

Books and Poems

They obviously need their own category.

• An IOU for a first-edition copy of Larissa’s in-progress soon-to-be-best-seller novel that, yes, maybe they have yet to write.

• On the PTK-theme, brat by Sophie Crocker.

• No New Things, a guide to cutting down on consumption.

• A bullet journal.

• A listography book (an activity and a gift!)

• An online chapbook (many are only a few dollars!) — printed out, if you like.

• A haiku inspired by the giftee. You can always DM PTK on Instagram to purchase a poem for your loved ones. Get your orders in by December 15 to ensure that your poem is ready in time for x-mas!

🌷🩷🌷

Ok here’s our final piece of advice for gifting:

What makes one a good gift giver is the same thing which makes one a good poet : being able to pay attention and noticing little details about the world around us and the people we love. If you can write a poem about someone you can get them a good gift. And if you can’t write a poem about someone you have a good gift: pay attention to them until you can write them a poem (in a not creepy way pls use discernment)

Drop your gift recs in the comments! We’ll be on break until the new year, so we’ll see you again in 2026. Happy holidays from PTK!

Love and mistletoe kisses,

L + S

“The story of the masochist’s daughter only ever had one ending” writes Savannah Brown in her poem Pain Theory. I’m a little obsessed with writing masochism, as you can probably tell if you’ve followed my poetry for any amount of time, and especially if you’ve read my book. As November gets colder and I still refuse to wear a jacket (duh), I’ve been writing out my reasoning and ruining my sleep schedule. As above, so below:

blood to beloved

i have the disease where a crush is a curse

where in my sleep my bones fall out

in dream science, this means progress

once,
i loved you so much that the rest of my life
turned to salt

the spellings of words changed

devour
to deflower, divot
to devote

i lived
through suffocation

i was looking for ways
to give up power

though i thought
i was no longer open
to torture

cinching my pants with your belt
that in your hands would craft a perfect heartbeat
on my

anyway

still it seems
i am a glutton, & punishment
is what’s there to be had

PROMPT: be a glutton, why don’t you?

P.S. BTW, I’m in Best Canadian Stories! The launch was last night. Here’s what the anthology looks like (photo by Frances Peck):

Me otw to the reading (photo by meeee):

I drank sparkling juice and blushed a lot and hugged my friends and yeah it was awesome!! Okay that’s all!! B4n my loves!

-Soph

Not my usual style of poem, really, but this does respond to Larissa’s prompt from last week, which was to rehash the past. A few winters ago — I can’t even remember what year — I had this boyfriend for a month, maybe less. We started up one night at the YMCA steam room while Lana Del Rey was playing, helped each other survive in the cold for a few weeks, then broke up unceremoniously and both started new antidepressants. I’ve been thinking about this lately, as the seasons turn: in every life there are these little pockets of alternate reality. A lover that lasts a month, a brief stint at a job, a vacation that’s never really mentioned again, a friendship that ends without consequence. These things matter, but never how you expect. That’s what this poem is about.

little story

once
a lover said to me:	sophie,
you’ve gotta be so special all the time,
			otherwise i’m no use to you
			isn’t that right?

i said		yes baby yes!!		have a nice life!!


not sorry because

yes i can spot a miracle when i see one

so i’m not moving in

with the Miracle Ignorer


	thank you,
	lukewarm coffee in bed, cold shower, scent of lilacs – 
	everything unwasteable,
	everything that cannot be wasted


i need it all

to live to die

& i have to do it too

PROMPT: Alternate reality — but just a small one.

I hope you all have a beautiful November, even though it is cold and dark.

xoxo

Soph

LUCKY DOG ♥️

Don’t           know    what’s on my bucket              list until I do it so how do I know for sure you weren’t          on it is what it is right cause blisters are anecdotes and  bubble baths born again baptisms you’re lucky I like I walking              cause you got me      nowhere near          there and by there I mean the address I gave you but it’s ok cause I like to fiddle with             my feelings from time to ti        me and in the end it’s all           a big                   joke.           Went to New York and all I got me was  Benadryl and this                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  lousy                                                                                                                              t-shirt. 

Ok bbs, that’s all.

POETRY PROMPT: rehash the past

Xoxo

L

Writing a gratitude poem as per Larissa’s prompt from last week. Not a ton to say this week, it’s mid-semester and I don’t have many words left. But the last few I have, I’m giving to you!

somebody in New York loves me

an easy statistic to forget

when i’m not there

& never have been

all i got is this

stupid t-shirt

so strangers know

hypothetically somebody

hearts me

in another state

somebody died for me

my kind of faith

is hard to maintain

when a tree falls

i make it my business to hear

thus the constant thudding

of wood on earth

in my ear

for somebody in New York

i echo like that:

scent of honeysuckle,

pink tint to the light,

no way to know me

just to know i’m alive 

PROMPT: write a poem about someone you’ve never met.

xoxo

S

Sometimes when I cannot sleep I think of Ronin the hero rat

Sniffing for landmines 
Your tail curls towards futures
Bare feet run again 

🐀

Thank u Ronin. I’ve had a lot of difficulty navigating a growing wave of hopelessness and despair over the past few months. This poem was inspired by Dr. Jane Goodall, who taught us so much about animals and from whom I first learned about APOPO & the HeroRats. When I heard of her death last week I remembered Ronin, and I remembered how many people (and rodents) are fighting every day, each in their own small way, to make the world just a little better. Thank u Jane.

Your poetry prompt is to write a gratitude poem to someone (or some rodent) who is helping you feel hope lately <3

Thank u friends! Xoxo - Larissa

It’s autumn, and I’m yearning a hole through my stomach. Trying to remember that desire is not a zero-sum game. Though I do love a little creature that lives off scraps. Takes only what will not be missed. This city is full of rats and mice, and they’re getting fat. It is not a crime to be so small and still get what you want. For a few years I only wrote about mouses. But now I can write about other things. Sometimes. Not today, though.

if you give a mouse a cookie

she’ll realize, for the first time, hunger. how

a single prism of sweetness implies further

sweetness. once, there was a gift, she tells

her fellow mice. such things are possible. her word

for holiness translates, in other languages, to sugar,

or to home, to satiety, or to a body riddled

with wounds. the mouse language is not so simple

as previously believed. little hides in conjugation. much

belongs in the future tense, which they call the tense

of hope. words can grow as long as their meanings

require, as with German Zungenbrecher. there is a word

for deserve, a word for yes, i do recall the famine

of my grandmothers, and a word, too, for

now, at last, we may ask for more.

PROMPT: Come on. Write about a rodent.

I’m so burned out. Tuck me in. Give me a cookie.

xoxo

S

Had fun on the Wikipedia.org list of curses for this one. Inspired by Larissa’s rage from last week. I think about Cassandra a lot. I bet she was really angry.

curses

fruit will rot on your tongue

you can predict all weather

except storm, hurricane, flood

so your segment on the news

seems designed to drown the citizens

the worst part was that often, Cassandra would forget if she had even spoken

everyone will forget you

except the bitter crows

& the daughters of the crows

& the daughters of the daughters of the crows

everything you touch will turn from you

the waves will hover, recoil,

do anything but break upon the shore

the worst part was that sometimes, Cassandra would decide not to speak at all

Thanks for reading, mes petits choux.

-S

PROMPT: what’s your curse? How’d you get it?

My safe space is a rage room

I want to break things that 
Shatter a mild 
Delirium cracking
Baseball bat 
In a puddle where I can scream 
No pillow just banshee 
If you give me the floor I will 
Wax it with my blood
Curdling clanking audible into
A void rages 
Accommodates
The sign reads: 

Beware

if you see my lips part
Plug your ears and let me

Poetry prompt: write a poem in the group chat with your friends

(Yeah I have 182 unread messages, sorry)

Xoxo

Larissa

Two weeks in a row from me. ShutupSophie.

I keep dressing like it’s hot out, because it is, and then forgetting that I’ll have to walk home alone at night later. Lately have been catcalled so much that the horrible feeling of it has permeated everything I do. Fear + anger + shame + vulnerability. Anyway. Poem with emojis in it. Wrote this for Bronwen Tate’s poetry class last year. World where it’s safe.

green apple vodka soda WITH cherry<3

i’m allowed!!! :)

i’m allowed
even to wear the tiniest dress
even to walk lonely at night
even pink sunset

used to think it was hedonism
to survive
caesar salad & french fries
a polaroid
an audition
to become
light	

the ground is dark
& no one knows me there

so yes i’m alive
i AM allowed

espresso martini & cigarillo
literal glitter
on my bare shoulder

PROMPT: It’s night, and you are alone, and you are furious. Why?

Love and kisses,

S.

Have been keeping a dream journal. Have been weaning off of melatonin. Have been sleeping in my own bed.

For this poem I followed a prompt from Dora Prieto’s excellent new chapbook (pictured below) as well as Larissa’s prompt from last week. Also stick around for a cool contest opportunity with !

dream logick

it is the end	of august	hot breath	my breasts	don’t fit in clothes	my body
is a stranger in loose cotton 	my kitten	stirs on my lap		what if she is dead & just
pretending so i don’t		feel bad	still breathing to spare me	my nipples are hard
from sheer warmth	everything is the same temp as a body	i check my shoes
for my kitten		my laundry	my garbage	please let her be	intact
if she died i would be		a raving heretic	for now	i’m up
blooming easily,	wilting easily & so easily	am i overwatered	i am a young night
flower		there a daytime moon but i am waiting	for a nighttime sun
why do i eat plastic oranges in my dreams 		did you know		a cigarette
takes exactly 7 minutes off your life		every single time	why all the unpetalling
in my dreams		the statistic where i swallow		five spiders a night     is that true
because if so		what’s the point of breakfast		though these numbers would explain
why i’m so scared all the time	in my nightmares i solved that philosophical quandary
the one about bodies on the railroad tracks	when i woke up i couldn’t recall the solution
only i couldn’t breathe	was that the answer?		it feels too good	to be true
for long							but i always knew i would get here:
bed by the window,		curtains drifting in rain,	little cat thrumming on my chest

POETRY PROMPT: Keep a dream journal. Allow it to become as real as you can.

Happy September!

xoxo

Soph

NEW CONTEST ALERT!

Noncette is hosting a new monthly poetry competition called "Cette It Off" and they're giving away real money ($100/$50/$25) to subscribers who create their signature noncettes! (What’s a non este you ask?? Click the link to find out!!!) It's free to enter and September's theme is: "learning and curiosity." The last day to submit is September 14! Even if you've never written poetry before, why not try? Check out the pics below or their page for more info!

Find out more!!

There’s nothing to get

Flock

I wanted to be left handed
I still do. 

Eyebrow weeds 
Pluck yours 
Over 
The flowers 
are wilting 
I have nothing 
To add
Grip    Grasp    Go
      Grab    Grow 
Give     Gain      Get
     Guild        Gift
Slanted frown
& cartoon 
Smile. 

When asked if 
anyone knew 
what an aubade 
was
I began the 
day pink &
tumbled

One of these 
days will be 
remembered 
Chromological 
Order 
All else is 
still alive

What do I 
have to give away? 
Handling of color. 

Delight in the 
Shape of 
The
Next stop
Just pink 
(Loud)

Last night I had 
A dream I raised 
My hand in class to 
Answer yes 
The light is hot 
& bright. I have
A hard time 
Gauging what 20
Min is. 

I’m seeing 
Many of the same 
Colors on my 
own person
HAND HOME

at hand 
Infinite shifts 
To pay for 

Thank you for sticking with us through all the changes! Your poetry prompt is to confess on the page, and understand it can stay there.

xoxo

L

Currently reading.

Hi all! Soph here. Not a poem, but I’m dropping in with a quick request. If you have some spare funds, I would absolutely love it if you could pledge a few dollars to support my Sealey challenge for Gaza. The Sealey challenge is a yearly challenge started by Nicole Sealey where readers and writers read 31 books in August — one book a day for the whole month. I successfully completed the Sealey last year, and this year, I’m participating in the Sameer Project’s call to do the Sealey as a fundraiser for displaced families in Gaza.

Please pledge any amount you can. Pledge reminders go out at the end of the month, and your donation can be anonymous. If you’d like to pledge to my challenge specifically, put the name “Sophie Crocker” in the field for who you’re sponsoring. I’ve included a list of what I’ve read so far to show that I’m really doing it, y’all!

Thanks for reading. Really hope you donate. Free Palestine.

Love and solidarity,

Sophi

e

Posting late today sorry. Ugh. Woke up at 1pm. Wasn’t partying although I did have the 2nd beer of my life, and I actually liked it this time.

If you have chapbook or short poetry book recommendations, please comment them; I’m doing the Sealey challenge this year, and I can always use recs.

Anyway, here’s this week’s poem!

ars poetica with the breakables put away

heaven is making out in the doorway at the party. heaven
misses me when i turn sideways. i’m easy to disappoint;
of course i worry about hereafter. pickup line: when you fell
from heaven, did you plummet like a lemming? i am trying
to resist apology – to avoid saying sorry for another song
that suspends my bones in resin. sorry for the fake alchemy
where i die young & pretty in soffe shorts & a tube top, a camp
counsellor you can rewind 100 times. in all the anecdotes i have
of death, something is nigh. something is a placebo to suck
dry. something is a pink lemon to grate into cake. & i’m still
at the party. actually, i live at the party. morning coffee from a red
solo. evenings that don’t end. thanks for the kiss, now i’m immortal.
mouth-to-mouth memory of my little soul. i wrote you a poem. okay,
it’s my number on a paper plate. please call me when you get here.

POETRY PROMPT: where are the breakables? What’s to be done with them?

Happy Wednesday, little ducklings!

xoxo

-S

Man woman boy girl baby

I listened

To poets better painters than me about the importance of listening. I wrote with shades of orange and yellow, the winged lemur, the dance lessons. I thought about my self/them self/ by self. I used my last free Frieze essay for the year to read on Maggie Nelson writing on Plath writing on O’Keeffe. I wrote their names down, I plucked the poppy and I ate it 

Your poetry prompt, should you choose to accept it:

Eat cake

Make wish

Write about today

That’s it for this week! Have to go have lunch with my parents and my mother in law now and they are meeting for the first time and it’s also my mom’s birthday! I love you all! Thank you for the birthday wishes! Sophie will see you next week!

Beijos,

Larissa

PS. come to Brasil

Hi pretty babies. L took a break last week, so it’s me again! (They’ll be back, don’t worry! Wish her a happy birthday when you get the chance. We love a Leo).

This poem isn’t about the movie Babygirl (2024), but it isn’t not about that. I promise I write about things other than kissing and stripteases and abandonment issues. Probably.

babygirl

let me drink
milk from your palms
when you say it. say it
again. then don’t leave
until i fall
asleep. first, i’ll perform
a talent show by the fireplace
in your too-big shirt, too-big
shoes. remove
one button
at a time. whenever
you leave i’ll know
you got sick
of my face. hold
your whole thumb like a hand
when you return. look at me. i don’t
know how to grow old. only
know how to stay still, say
please
please
please
please. i get so darling for you. so
darling. a girl
who cannot be lost,
only abandoned.

POETRY PROMPT: In this vein, write a poem about how you act when you are with your love(r)(s).

Happy Leo szn! Talk to you soon. Mwah!

-S