August 17, 2025
Isabella Borgeson
Isabella “Isa” Borgeson (she/they) is a queer, mixed race, filipino american poet and community organizer from Oakland. Their poetry is influenced by their years organizing in the aftermath of super typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda. Isa aims to use their storytelling to visibilize the impact of climate change on their home(land)s, from Oakland to Tanauan.
I open my fanged mouth & fall in love with every woman in the village / whose mother’s
tongue does not own a name for me / a hill of blue flies crawl across my face
I imagined listening to the “tracks” of my queerness like counting a tree’s rings. I documented snapshots, moments where I learned my gender, my body. I thought of my partner, who looks up at pink and blue sunsets and announces “the sky is trans”. I thought of little Isa, figuring out my queerness while playing in the sea.