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Isa Borgeson

@isaborgeson

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Oakland ✈️ Philippines | Poetry and Ocean 🌊 | Ghostlines Collective | The Root Slam 🌳
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Join Helen Toribio Kapwa Fellows and Mesa Refuge at Lit Crawl – a massive, one-night literary pub crawl through San Francisco’s Mission District. This reading includes Isa Borgeson, Rona Fernandez, Jassmin Poyaoan, Aileen Suzara, Aimee Suzara, and Angel Trazo, who were brought together through the Helen Toribio Kapwa Fellowship at Mesa Refuge. Kapwa is a Tagalog word that does not have an exact English translation, but describes “the universal truth of interconnectedness and solidarity with all living beings.” In the spirit of kapwa, these writers bring into conversation distinct explorations of intergenerational relationships and trauma, mothering, queerness, climate change and the role of colonialism, and mythology. When: October 24th, 6:30pm Where: Medicine for Nightmares, SF #litcrawl2026 taken in Medicine for Nightmares by @isaborgeson
6
2 days ago
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I want to be a fish. 🐟🐟🐟 Earlier this week, my little river offering of a poem “self portrait as fish” was published by Queer Poem a Day. I hardly ever write poems with my dad in them. So this one about my gender, his work ties, & my truest love of fish felt special to me. I wrote it in my first Emotional Historians class by @iamjonsands, and then turned it into a sonnet during my last @insurreallife class. (Insert belly laughter at the very-recent Isa who never counted syllables & named any 14-lines a sonnet.) 

All my love to @qpoemaday_com for finding this fish a home. Sign up for their emails y’all! So many of my favorite poems I’ve read this year were from their daily curated series. It is a gift to be a pisces, in love in a world of fish. Swipe for my full shorty poem & fish & more gender affirmations. 🐠🐡🐠 by @isaborgeson
19
a month ago
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“no one asks the fish their gender. no one / mispronouns him. they see a school swimming / in synchrony.” From “self-portrait as fish” by Isa Borgeson, today’s featured poem on Queer Poem-A-Day 🌈🐠 by @isaborgeson
5
2 months ago
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happy gay, sweet gays. I have a poem in @poetsorg poem-a-day series after Ryka Aoki. curated by my lovely friend @samsax1. 🩵🐚 I hope this summer is filled with water & writing. my loved ones, alive all around me. by @isaborgeson
39
4 months ago
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6/23/26 “transform / into sequenced coffin lipstick / of a vomiting house” To read more, sign up for Poem-a-Day at the link in our bio. by @isaborgeson
24
4 months ago
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Resist & Revel: An Asian & Pacific Islander Poetry Celebration Featuring Aliah Lavonne Jahan-Tigh, Isa Borgeson, Lehua M. Taitano, Noah Arhm Choi, Noʻu Revilla & S. J. Ghaus Split This Rock and Kay Ulanday Barrett are back to host another spectacular virtual poetry reading! Join us for a virtual poetry reading in celebration of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month on Thursday, May 28, 2026, 6:30-8 pm EDT. Tickets are offered on a sliding scale and start at $5. All ticket sales support Split This Rock's ongoing fundraising efforts and sustain our urgent work. Tickets are available via the link in our bio or at our website: splitthisrock.org. ACCESSIBILITY: On-screen ASL interpretation, Zoom auto-captions, and a document formatted for screen readers with poet bios and poem text will be provided. Accommodation requests received at least two weeks before the reading give us our best chance at fulfillment. This virtual poetry reading is made possible by the generosity of poets who have offered to donate their time and talents. With their help and yours, Split This Rock can bridge a $68,750 funding gap and continue our work of materially supporting poets who are often underrepresented, excluded, and erased from the literary landscape. Thank you! Image Description: Over an abstract pastel blue and orange background, Split This Rock's red logo appears above bold text which reads: “Resist & Revel: An Asian & Pacific Islander Celebration. May 28, 2026, 6:30-8 pm EDT. Tickets $5-20.” Below, seven photos of the featured poets with their names across the bottom of each photo: Aliah Lavonne Jahan-Tigh, Isa Borgeson, Lehua M. Taitano, Noah Arhm Choi, Noʻu Revilla, S. J. Ghaus, and Kay Ulanday Barrett. #aapiheritagemonth #aapi #aapimonth #aapiartists #aapipoets #apiaheritagemonth #apia #apiamonth #apiaartists #apiapoets #asianamerican #pacificislander #nativehawaiian #Poetry #Poems #PoetryCommunity #CommunityofPoets #PoetryReading #VirtualPoetryReading Over an abstract pastel blue and orange background, Split This Rock's red logo appears above bold text which reads: “Resist & Revel: An Asian & Pacific Islander Celebration. May 28, 2026, 6:30-8 pm EDT. Tickets $5-20.” Below, seven photos of the featured poets with their names across the bottom of each photo: Aliah Lavonne Jahan-Tigh, Isa Borgeson, Lehua M. Taitano, Noah Arhm Choi, Noʻu Revilla, S. J. Ghaus, and Kay Ulanday Barrett. by @isaborgeson
7
6 months ago
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this summer I found blood moons in new cemeteries. held paws with my favorite tiny hand. watched blooming dogwood trees dance like a veil blowing. I ate 3 summer melons in one bowl. realized my nostrils are shaped like sweethearts. I made friends with new rivers & swam til my shoulders freckled & ached. may the writing never end. may the water always find me. may all my loved ones be free. by @isaborgeson
8
a year ago
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In case y'all didn't know, we do in-depth full of heart n soul interviews with all our poets! Here are some highlights from our interview with one of our Poet of the Year Finalists the wonderful Isabella!! by @isaborgeson
6
a year ago
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happy 33rd to my brilliant, bimbo, baddie. a skilled deescalator. most trusted facilitator. editor to all my writing. my sweet autumn love, more excited for Halloween than their birthday. how lucky I feel to witness your goofy-magic. cheers to the most engaged follower on AC Transit’s IG account. 🥃 may I be the air bud to your black cat for many moons to come. 🖤🌕🐈‍⬛ {wish a tatted-witch happy birthday, yall. & swipe for my first pic w mika in my camera roll - that baby in luvv luv.} by @isaborgeson
19
a year ago
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happy summer, loves. I’m thrilled to have 6 poems published by @onlypoemsmag & a sweet interview as part of their feature for my 2025 Poet of the Year Finalist recognition. check the link in my bio! the first poem is so dear to me, it’s a crown of sonnets about the aftermath of super typhoon Yolanda. I wrote it after reading @danez_smif’s “crown”, back when I thought danez had literally invented the form. 3 of the poems are brand new scribbles I wrote in my first @insurreallife class (shout out to @sheer_awe for her gorgeous prompts). also, my interview felt so special to respond to! I shout out my ghostline best-friend-loves, remind everyone that @safiamafia is forever my favorite writer, & talk about the ghosts I grew up with. I mention a 2016 interview of @nifmuhammad that I still think about & a recent magical moment reading @tianaclarkypants along a sagging river in western mass. 

all this to say: quitting my job this past April has made so much more room for my poems, neighborhood walks, & monthly collages. while my nervous system is still learning to slow, I wish all my peoples were able to experience the gentle care I’ve been feeding myself these past months. photos by the sweetest @lara_kaur from this past January. I was so nervous to be in my body, but Lara made a soft space for me to open in front of the camera. & now my website headshots are no longer baby-femme-Is with lipstick & long hair (miss you boo). 🐟🤍🪻💄🐠 by @isaborgeson
50
a year ago
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The lovely @isaborgeson is one of the 4 finalists of our annual POET OF THE YEAR Prize! 🎉🥳👯 Please go spend some time with these beautiful poems and an even more exhilarating interview! . . . . #poetry #onlypoems #poetryprompt #poetrycontest #poetsandartists by @isaborgeson
31
a year ago
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happy pisces season, honey loves. 🐠 ♓️ 🐡 I really fucking loved 33, but I’m quitting my job at 34 & heading home to the Philippines for the first time since the start of the pandemic. so it can’t be too bad! I hope all my loves witness their magic today. I hope this year brings more friend dates, more cooking for my love and myself, more time for my poems, more covid-safe hangs, more honoring of the plants that bloom in mika’s south Berkeley neighborhood, more basketball at San Pablo Park & accepting sour patch payments from little kids who think I’m too old to hit a three. signed, my semi annual bday post 🌸🤍🌱🌒 by @isaborgeson
54
2 years ago
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