TAKE COVER, EVERYONE
Clara Yeager and Sarah Burgoyne
$6
Fish that I am, and what I am.
I hold impressive secrets. They fill my ears.
Fridge in the back of my fish cave. Yes,
I am brave. I am. Am I?
Windows peer into my eel-like soul that jolts electrically
when I listen. I only hear screams
Oh-so-da-Gama-ray…
Why was it that when I dyed my hair you stared
at me with dismay, like the auburn-coloured rocks
that you gave me on my 734th birthday, like the yarn
with which I spin this incredible sub-aquatic tale.
Unseaward is my name and my father’s. And his father’s
and not his father but his mother’s.
Seabored, yes I am that. Dear reader,
try to discover with me this light in my skull
that guides my future descendants back home.
Plastic may be the main terrestrial ingredient of Garbage Island
but I wish to leave.
published in Ottawa by above/ground press
April 2026
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy
Clara Yeager and
Sarah Burgoyne have collaborated on three poetry collections,
Take Cover Everyone,
Yes, Your Majesty and
We’ve Lost Our Celebrity. Each of their titles is based on a line Clara has uttered on stage and each book is written in the span of three hours.
Sarah Burgoyne is the author of
Because the Sun (Coach House: 2021),
Saint Twin (Mansfield: 2016) and
Mechanophilia (Anvil: 2023), an infinite collaboration with
American poet Vi Khi Nao.
Clara Yeager is a grade nine student in Montreal and an actrice who has starred in productions such as
Mean Girls the Musical as Karen, as well as
Anything Goes,
Frozen and
Legally Blonde. They have been friends for over a decade.
This is Sarah Burgoyne’s fifth above/ground press title, after
A Precarious Life on the Sea (2016),
TENTACULUM SONNETS (2020), the collaborative
WHERE FORTH ART THOUGH (with Susan Burgoyne; 2020) and
AN ACCURATE CIGARETTE: Poetry & Prompts (2026).
To order, send cheques (add $2 for postage; in US, add $3; outside North America, add $7) to: rob mclennan, 2423 Alta Vista Drive, Ottawa ON K1H 7M9. E-transfer or PayPal at rob_mclennan (at) hotmail.com or the PayPal button at
www.robmclennan.blogspot.com
