John P. Kristofco
Artists
started on the way by hands that pushed us off,
giving us the energy we add into the world,
things we touch, gather to ourselves,
add, subtract, mold and shape with every step
we give and take, colors that we steal
to make the canvas of ourselves,
though circled, ever forward toward the light
of galleries where people rarely come
to see our handiwork,
untitled finished portraits of ourselves
Bio
John P. Kristofco, from Highland Heights, Ohio, is professor of English and the former dean of Wayne College in Orrville. His poetry, short stories, and essays have appeared in over a hundred different publications, including: Folio, Rattle, The Bryant Literary Review, The Cimarron Review, Poem, Grasslimb, Iodine, Small Pond, The Aurorean, Ibbetson Street, Blue Unicorn, Blueline, and Sheepshead Review. He has published three collections of poetry, A Box of Stones, Apparitions, and The Fire in Our Eyes. He has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize five times.