Mimi

Becca Barniskis

Excerpted from Mimi and Xavier Star in a Museum That Fits Entirely in One’s Pocket, Anomalous Press Chapbook Contest Finalist, forthcoming

click here to read about the full project

Inside my bones (fine china)
sweet powder and keg,
crackling lines,
thus the long sleeves and lace
at my wrists.
[whispering] But who has not peered
inside her own skull
and found it charred?

I steady my nerves
with a shot—
I may have to set a fuse
tonight.


Becca Barniskis' chapbook of poems, Mimi and Xavier Star in a Museum That Fits Entirely in One’s Pocket will be published in 2013 by Anomalous Press. Her poetry has appeared in numerous journals, among them The Boiler, Mid-American Review, burntdistrict, Conduit, and Prairie Schooner. She lives and works in Minnesota. beccabarniskis.com

Nick Jaffe, who collaborated with her on the audio version of these four poems and who is working with her on an audio version of the forthcoming chapbook, is a Chicago-based musician, recording engineer and teacher.  He has performed as a guitarist with a wide variety of artists including Common, Dwele and Ice Cube and collaborates on music across genres.  His most recent solo work includes an album that is a musical history of the Sputnik I satellite. http://nickjaffe.com