Istanbul Literary Review - September 2011 Edition (#21)

Here I am Behind Enemy Lines

David Stanford Burr

the pawn in a mysterious plot
of betrayal, capture, torture, death
caught up in a top-secret mission
way too dangerously deep in love
with my beautiful brunette contact
who is rumored a double agent
as we meld pinochle in the safe house
for these three last days before I must
present the package at a certain
corner and time to the fedora
rehearsing with her again and again
the countersign I keep forgetting
and that pointedly banal question

David Stanford Burr

USA

David Stanford Burr is a managing editor at St. Martin’s Press and a professor at New York University, where he teaches poetry writing workshops. He is the Barnes & Noble poetry series editor for poetry anthologies and the author of The Poet’s Notebook: Inspiration, Techniques, and Advice on Craft. His poems have appeared in Poetry, Barrow Street, The Kean Review, Manhattan Literary Review, Lips, and in several anthologies. David also edits poetry manuscript for major New York City book publishing companies.

Istanbul Literary Review - September 2011 Edition (#21)