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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

When I was a boy
I believed in secret toys
that moved in cupboards
and hissed
through keyholes.
I played under tables in the nursery
with my tin weapons
and read earnest books
on wilderness survival.
I grew up! I studied war!
and how to pick locks:
women, books, maps.

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

Get Anomalous Issue #8

In This Issue

Mani Rao
...Sing to Me
...Monkey Puzzle
Steve Bradbury
translating Ye Mimi
...In the Mountains Near at Hand
Bradley Schmidt
translating Ulrike Almut Sandig
...was the table, was the chair
...solar eclipse
...when you're not here
Monika Zobel
...To Begin at Breath
...Monumental
...Der Immigrant sucht die unbenannten Länder
Michael Schorsch
translating Venantius Fortunatus
...from Fortunatus
Sarah Tourjee
...from Ghost
Janis Freegard
...Alice and the Personality Disorder
...Who is Alice
...Alice Waits
Becca Barniskis
...Xavier Box
...Mimi
...X
...M
Liat Berdugo
...Just the Heads
...When Some Things Fail
...All Men Equal
...There Might Have Been Some Mastication
Askold Melnyczuk
...Dad, Poet, 1954 ad nauseum
Laura McCullough
...Help for the Reality Challenged
...That's the Game, Boys
...Bowie My Hair Goddess Grow
Michael Gushue
...Pachinko Mouth, First Turn
...Pachinko Mouth, Second Turn
...A Valediction for When Words Fail
Aaron Crippen
...closing his eyes he
...fresh-stripped of skin
...He Gives You Your Vision
...the moon
...under your foot
Sandra Doller
translating Éric Suchère
...21
...22
Kendra Greene
...from Anatomy of a Museum
Mark Wunderlich
...Prayer in a Time of Sickness
Amber Ginsburg
...Edge