skin artist
by Tracy Mishkin
for Noah
your flesh my canvas cortisone cream
the dots of Seurat no brush my finger
shades salve to skin rough red
rash morning bathe paint evening
paint sleep my hand my palette Elidel
Vaseline moving easel no model
paid to sit still impatient impasto
greasy splotches scream resist dismiss
my art quilt reed basket coiled pot my son
my canvas masterpiece respite
itching redness open sores
Bio: Tracy Mishkin is a career immigrant. Born in academia, she taught in Georgia and published two books on African-American literature, then disappeared, resurfacing in the land of non-profits with the Bureau of Jewish Education in Indianapolis. Three years later, she was spotted across the border working retail at the Uniform House before she immigrated to the corporate world, where she resolves insurance problems at Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield. Finishing Line Press will publish her chapbook I Almost Didn’t Make It to McDonald’s in 2014. Her work is also forthcoming in the Reckless Writing Poetry Anthology 2013 and has appeared in Tipton Poetry Journal, Flying Island, Poetica, and in the Focus 9-11 section of PoetsUSA.com.
by Tracy Mishkin
for Noah
your flesh my canvas cortisone cream
the dots of Seurat no brush my finger
shades salve to skin rough red
rash morning bathe paint evening
paint sleep my hand my palette Elidel
Vaseline moving easel no model
paid to sit still impatient impasto
greasy splotches scream resist dismiss
my art quilt reed basket coiled pot my son
my canvas masterpiece respite
itching redness open sores
Bio: Tracy Mishkin is a career immigrant. Born in academia, she taught in Georgia and published two books on African-American literature, then disappeared, resurfacing in the land of non-profits with the Bureau of Jewish Education in Indianapolis. Three years later, she was spotted across the border working retail at the Uniform House before she immigrated to the corporate world, where she resolves insurance problems at Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield. Finishing Line Press will publish her chapbook I Almost Didn’t Make It to McDonald’s in 2014. Her work is also forthcoming in the Reckless Writing Poetry Anthology 2013 and has appeared in Tipton Poetry Journal, Flying Island, Poetica, and in the Focus 9-11 section of PoetsUSA.com.