Stacey Balkun
2020 Michelle Boisseau Prize second-place poem
Lure
Before the boys came with Milwaukee’s Best
the boys came with bottle rockets
and before that books of matches
they’d flare tossed in our hair
just to hear us screech
and before the boys came with
Leathermans the boys came
with sticks they’d use to poke
at the backs of our knees at our thighs and once
we went fishing together, popcorn
tied to a shoelace we’d take turns
dragged through the creek they swore it
every bite all was theirs
reeled in fighting
for breath through the shallows
even
then we knew
who was the hunter
who was the prey
Stacey Balkun is the author of SWEETBITTER (Sundress 2021) and co-editor of Fiolet & Wing: An Anthology of Domestic Fabulist Poetry. Winner of the 2019 New South Writing Contest as well as Terrain.org’s 10th Annual Contest, her work has appeared in Best New Poets 2018, Crab Orchard Review, The Rumpus, and several other anthologies and journals. Stacey holds an MFA from Fresno State and teaches creative writing online at The Poetry Barn and The Loft. Visit her online at staceybalkun.com.