MOYSHE (MAURICE) KISH

MOYSHE (MAURICE) KISH (February 19, 1898-1987)

            A poet and painter, he was born in Dvinsk (Daugavpils), Latvia.  He studied in religious elementary school and general subject matter privately.  He made his way to the United States in 1912.  He debuted in print in 1920 in Kundes (Prankster) and went on to publish in: Fraye arbeter shtime (Free voice of labor), Di feder (The pen), Oyfkum (Arise), Der hamer (The hammer), Tsukunft (Future), Yidishe kultur (Jewish culture), Zamlungen (Anthologies), and Ineynem (Altogether), among others.  His work also appeared in: Nakhmen Mayzil, Amerike in yidishn vort antologye (America in Yiddish, an anthology) (New York: Ikuf, 1955).  In book form: Di velt iz mayn lid, geklibene lider un poemen (The world is my poem, selected poetry) (New York: IKUF, 1968), 300 pp.  He was part of the Proletpen (Proletarian pen) group.  He was also a painter, and his works hang in many museums.  His pen names: M. Moris and Moris-Moris.  “Kish was seized by the enchanted New York,” wrote B. Ts. Goldberg, “the giant city that symbolized the world.  The world is his poem, his sky, his earth….  The rhythm is calm, the imagery plastic, when Kish embarks…on nature.”  He died in New York.

Sources: B. Ts. Goldberg, in Tog-morgn-zhurnal (New York) (October 18, 1969); B. Grin, in Morgn frayhayt (New York) (February 1, 1970); Y. Kolmar, in Naye prese (Paris) (January 10, 11, 1970); Y. E. Rontsh, Morgn frayhayt (February 10, 1974); Yeshurin archive, YIVO (New York).

Berl Cohen