Publications
- "Impaired Triptych" Back Patio Press
- "Spearfishing in Albany" The Journal Science
"Shoes For The Coup"
by Peter Burke
Read on Substack
...Sprawled on an ottoman, I receive a text message from a girl who I put an ocean between rather than admit I love her. Hey, are you okay? I just saw something in the news about a terrorist attack in Istanbul...
Mixtapes
...I’m high as balls
and my cousin is doing 90
around the f-zero highways
I’m a little worried cuz
he’s really ripping the pen but
His tolerance is way
higher than mine which
also worries me but
in a way less immediate
way...
...I round another corner and I’m confronted with the wide, gaping steps of the Times-Union Center. Silver-tongued railings loll out towards me.
It seems impossible that I could have missed it for so long — it’s so huge. Maybe it has only just reappeared.
I stand on the corner across the street, under an unreliable street light. As the light flickers, I have an eerie sensation of being able to see myself. Everytime the light blinks out, and then comes back on again, it falls on a different me. Not a totally different version of myself — in fact, I don’t look any different — but I can feel it. What if I step off this curb and I’m not who I used to be? What if this is some other me’s world? This isn’t supposed to be happening, someone’s left a door open. I’m not supposed to see this.
I pray for the second time that night...