First Flying Island post: A poem from Tracy Mishkin

A Bird of Prey Always Has the Last Word
by Tracy Mishkin 
for Sherry Chandler

I. Letter from Hawk on Christmas Day

Thank you for filling the feeder
and luring the cardinal down.
I was hungry, perched in a pine
and waiting. Fat target. Easy prey.
I suppose you sought beauty: red bird,
evergreens, fresh snow.
I thought only of meat. 

II. Reply to Hawk 

The Currier & Ives notecard
was a lovely touch. I know
you have to eat. Why rub it in?
Today I bought every can and box
on sale, all for the food bank.
When the season of warmth and giving
is over, donations drop. Like you,
the children have to eat.
They are not sentimental
about their food. 

III. Hawk Drops One Last Note 

A donation in my honor?
Precious. When I have children
I cannot feed, they shrivel
in the nest and I watch them die.

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.