PULSE
K.B. Thors is a poet from rural Alberta, Canada. Her debut collection Vulgar Mechanics is forthcoming from Coach House Books in fall 2019. Her translation of Stormwarning by Icelandic poet Kristín Svava Tómasdóttir won the American Scandinavian Foundation Leif and Inger Sjöberg Prize and was nominated for the PEN Literary Award for Poetry in Translation. Winner of the Vallum Poetry Prize and an Arc poem of the year finalist, her poems have been published across Canada, the U.K., and the U.S.
my sister helps my dad rip up planks from the deck
a ship of theseus under bacon fat for birds, a question of identity
I used to care about that kind of thing
now I care about not getting shot
about my brother not getting shot
about his boyfriend not going to jail when someone yells fag across the street
there are refugees beside you right now there are people who know you
won’t bag their blood when bleeding out
there are guys at home saying they hope a gay bar does
open downtown—easy to get a bat
shoot fish in a barrel
a sash full of powder strapped to your body
bachelorette bedsore caking the hull
when ship becomes casket we gather at the shore
and burn that sucker down in bulletproof tea gowns
skin tight leopard print shrunk in the wash
K.B. Thors is a poet from rural Alberta, Canada. Her debut collection Vulgar Mechanics is forthcoming from Coach House Books in fall 2019. Her translation of Stormwarning by Icelandic poet Kristín Svava Tómasdóttir won the American Scandinavian Foundation Leif and Inger Sjöberg Prize and was nominated for the PEN Literary Award for Poetry in Translation. Winner of the Vallum Poetry Prize and an Arc poem of the year finalist, her poems have been published across Canada, the U.K., and the U.S.