Matches for: “Mishkin” …

Jul 21 2017
Poetry, Words

What Work Isn’t

dumpster

BY TRACY MISHKIN

You’re building a machine that turns everything
into a joke. Pallets, clotheslines, odd bits
of hose. Every project half-finished or never quite
begun. How is sodden carpet worth saving?

I yank weeds, snatch black plastic mats, and load
the wheelbarrow again. Sweat spatters my glasses.
When rain comes, I slog on. Junk limps
into the dumpster—bricks and rakes and bones
the dog has long abandoned.

When I ask for help, you say the grass is wet
and you are wearing sandals. Your asthma is acting up.
You fell asleep on the couch. You late
and lazy bastard. I should throw you in that dumpster,
change the locks, and make love to the silence.

 

Tracy Mishkin is a call center veteran with a PhD and a graduate of the MFA program in Creative Writing at Butler University. She is the author of two chapbooks, I Almost Didn’t Make It to McDonald’s (Finishing Line Press, 2014) and The Night I Quit Flossing (Five Oaks Press, 2016). 

Nov 10 2014
News

Michigan Bestseller list for October 2014

BDFor October 2014, the largest rise on the Michigan Bestseller List was John Pollack’s Shortcut, debuting at the #1 slot.  Charlie LeDuff’s Detroit has its fifth consecutive month on the bestseller list.

1) John Pollack—Shortcut: How Analogies Reveal Connections, Spark Innovation, and Sell Our Greatest Ideas (Gotham) [highest debut]

2) Debbie Diesen—The Pout-Pout Fish (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

3) Eric James—A Halloween Scare in Michigan (Sourcebooks Jabberwocky) [last month #12]

4) Dan Mishkin–Warren Commission Report: A Graphic Investigation into the Kennedy Assassination (Abrams Books)

5) Andrea Hannah—Of Scars and Stardust (Flux)

6) Charlie LeDuff—Detroit: An American Autopsy (Penguin Books) [last month #9; fifth month on the list]

7) Kate Bassett–Words & Their Meanings (Flux) [last month #2]

8) Jerry Dennis–The Living Great Lakes: Searching for the Heart of the Inland Seas (St. Martin’s Griffin) [last month #13]

9) W. Bruce Cameron—The Midnight Plan of the Repo Man (Macmillan/Tor/Forge Books)

9) Julie Lawson Timmer–Five Days Left (Putnam Adult) [last month #3]

11) Thomas R. Dilley—The Art of Memory: Historic Cemeteries of Grand Rapids, Michigan (Wayne State University Press) [last month #11]

12) John Green—Fault in Our Stars (Dutton Books) [last month #8]

13) John S. Haeussler–Hancock (Arcadia Publishing) [last month #14]

14) Mardi Jo Link—Bootstrapper: From Broke to Badass on a Northern Michigan Farm (Vintage)

15) Tom Rath—StrengthsFinder 2.0 (Gallup Press)

This list was compiled from 19 participating bookstores: Leaf Used & Rare Books (79 State Rd, Newaygo; www.bayleafbooks.com), Between the Covers (106 E. Main St., Harbor Springs, www.facebook.com/btcbookstore), Blue Frog Books (3615 E. Grand River, Howell; www.bluefrogbooksandmore.com), Book Bug (3019 Oakland Dr, Kalamazoo;http://www.bookbugkalamazoo.com/), Book World Marquette (136 W Washington St., Marquette; www.bookworldstores.com), Falling Rock Café & Bookstore (104 E Munising Ave, Munising; www.fallingrockcafe.com), Grandpa’s Barn (340 South Fourth, Copper Harbor;www.facebook.com/grandpasbarn), Island Bookstore (Main St Centre, PO Box 1298, Mackinac Island; 215 E Central Ave, PO Box 1006, Mackinaw City; www.islandbookstore.com), Kazoo Books (407 N Clarendon St., Kalamazoo; 2413 Parkview, Kalamazoo; www.kazoobooks.com), Nicola’s Books (2513 Jackson Ave, Ann Arbor; www.nicolasbooks.com), North Wind Books (601 Quincy St, Hancock; https://bookstore.finlandia.edu), Saturn Booksellers (133 W Main St, Gaylord; www.saturnbooksellers.com), Schuler Books & Music (1982 W Grand River Ave, Okemos; 2660 28th Street SE, Grand Rapids; 2820 Towne Center Blvd, Lansing; www.schulerbooks.com), Snowbound Books (118 N 3rd St, Marquette;www.snowboundbooks.com), Squirreled Away Books (22985 W Main St, Armada; www.squirreledawaybooks.com), Up North Books (3362 Interstate 75 Business Spur, Sault Ste. Marie; http://upnorthbooks.com/).

U.P. BESTSELLER LIST

1) Charlie LeDuff—Detroit: An American Autopsy (Penguin Books) [last month #1; fourth month at the #1 spot]

2) John S. Haeussler–Hancock (Arcadia Publishing) [last month #3]

3) Ellen Airgood–South of Superior (Riverhead Trade) [last month #2; fifth month on the list]

4) Joseph Heywood–Killing a Cold One (Lyons Press) [last month #5]

5) Todd Clements–Haunts of Mackinac: Ghost Stories, Legends, & Tragic Tales of Mackinac Island (House of Hawthorne Publishing) [last month #9]

6) Robert Archibald–Northern Border: History and Lore of the Upper Peninsula and Beyond (Northern Michigan University Press) [last month #5; fifth month on the list]

6) Melanie Dobson–Love Finds You in Mackinac Island, Michigan (Summerside) [last month #13]

8) Sonny Longtine–Murder in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula (The History Press) [last month #10]

9) Jim Harrison–Brown Dog (Grove Press) [last month tied #11]

10) Loren R. Graham–A Face in the Rock: The Tale of a Grand Island Chippewa (University of California Press) [last month #7; fifth month on the list]

10) Tom North–Mackinac Island (Arcadia Publishing) [highest debut]

12) Abe Sauer–Goodnight Loon (University of Minnesota Press)

13) Jerome Pohlen–Oddball Michigan: A Guide to 450 Really Strange Places (Chicago Review Press)

13) Michael Schumacher–November’s Fury: The Deadly Great Lakes Hurricane of 1913 (University of Minnesota Press)

15) Nancy Coco–All Fudged Up: A Candy-Coated Mystery with Recipes (Kensington) [last month tied #11]

15) Steve Hamilton–Let It Burn: An Alex McKnight Novel (Minotaur Books)

 

This list was complied from 7 stores: Book World Marquette (136 W Washington St., Marquette; www.bookworldstores.com), Falling Rock Café & Bookstore (104 E Munising Ave, Munising; www.fallingrockcafe.com), Grandpa’s Barn (340 South Fourth, Copper Harbor; www.facebook.com/grandpasbarn), Island Bookstore (Main St Centre, PO Box 1298, Mackinac Island; 215 E Central Ave, PO Box 1006, Mackinaw City; www.islandbookstore.com), North Wind Books (601 Quincy St, Hancock; https://bookstore.finlandia.edu), Snowbound Books (118 N 3rd St, Marquette; www.snowboundbooks.com), and Up North Books (3362 Interstate 75 Business Spur, Sault Ste. Marie; http://upnorthbooks.com/).

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