Judith Skillman's "The Sister," which I accepted for Seneca Review earlier this year, was striking for recasting Cain as sister and memorably arresting for the feral fierceness of the portrait. Her other poems in The Never are equally astute, unsentimental and unflinching; her identification with the icons and motions of mythology, the armature for so many of the poems here, derive from their visceral passions. These poems sizzle with elemental directness and judgment, linguistically sharp and probing. Like the never which seems indistinguishable from the always, this book aims for elemental truths which give us the comfort of no-comfort. That makes poems in this collection something to trust. --David Weiss, Editor, Seneca Review Pay careful attention to the lines of Wheatland's: "to travel is to dream of wheat...to dream is to revel in scenery...to sleep is to travel inside the germ and the chaff." To read The Never is to venture into a mysterious world of the plain and the mystical, "the drape and pleat of hill and valley" that sustains us. --Tina Kelley, The Gospel of Galore Few poets seize the natural world in the tender, particular ways that poet Judith Skillman does...For a poet who sees this world as does Skillman, nature's beauty and cruelty is ours as well. --Chicago Sun-Times Book Review Skillman's was the first truly brilliant poem I ran across on my poetic journey, and I was in awe of the sheer skill of her line breaks, movement, and control... Much like Heather McHugh, Skillman is a 'poet's poet,' and to read her work makes me rejoice, as poet, in the possibilities of the art itself. --The Pedestal Magazine, Terri Brown-Davidson
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About Judith Skillman
Over the past three decades Judith Skillman has written and published numerous poems for books, journals, and anthologies. She has collaborative translations from Portuguese, Italian, and French. Her publications include local, regional, national, and international magazines; her interest in verse writing has led to many workshops and classes, and, more recently, to facilitating poetry and verse-related workshops. Skilllman has authored ten books of poems.
From 1977 - 1978 she held a teaching assistantship at the University of Maryland, while working towards my masters degree in English Literature. She received the King County Arts Commission's Publication Prize in 1987, judged by Madeline DeFrees. This prize of $5,000 enabled her to find a publisher for my first book, 'Worship of the Visible Spectrum' (Breitenbush Books.) In 1991 Skillman was awarded a Washington State Arts Commission Writer's Fellowship in the amount of $5,000. This grant provided funding from March 1991 - February 1992.
Three residencies during the 90's, one from the Hedgebrook Cottages for Women Writers, and two from the Centrum Foundation, allowed her to pursue her creative work while raising three children. In addition, she received the Richard Hugo Memorial Scholarship in 1992 to attend the Centrum Writer's Conference. Other awards include the Stafford Award from the Washington Poet's Association, First Prize in the Pacific Northwest Writers Conference, and Honorable Mentions from The Journal and Kalliope.
Judith did graduate work in Romantic Literature and Translation Seminars at the University of Washington in the Department of Comparative Literature from 1994 - 1995. She was commissioned from 1994 - 1997 as a literary artist member of a three-person team to create an original artwork for the Kent Regional Justice Center. My poem 'The Jury' is etched in the windows of the jury waiting room.
Poems were nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 1984 and 2001. During this period, she also published two books of poems with Blue Begonia Press. The first, 'Beethoven and the Birds,' was funded by the press, and the second, 'Storm,' received additional support in the form of an Eric Mathieu King Fund Award from the Academy of American Poets. Her collection 'Red Town,' published by Silverfish Review in 2001, received a Bumbershoot Literary Arts Award and was a finalist in the Washington Center for the Book Award. 'Circe's Island,' was published by Silverfish Review Press (80 pp., 2003.)
In 2003 she was a finalist in the David Robert Books Competition and my book, 'Latticework,' the result of a collaboration with textile artist Erika Carter, was published in 2004. Her 'New and Selected Poems: 1986 ' 2006' was published by Silverfish Review Press in 2006, with an introduction by David Kirby.
In August of 1999, Skillman was a translator in residence at the European College of Literary Translators and Interpreters in Seneffe, Belgium, with expenses paid. She is a member of the Richard Hugo House and Associated Writing Programs (AWP.) She taught Business and Humanities at City University from 1985 ' 2005. Currently, she a faculty member at the University of Phoenix, Washington Campus. She teaches writing at the Richard Hugo House in Seattle, Washington.
Over the past three decades Judith Skillman has written and published numerous poems for books, journals, and anthologies. She has collaborative translations from Portuguese, Italian, and French. Her publications include local, regional, national, and international magazines; her interest in verse writing has led to many workshops and classes, and, more recently, to facilitating poetry and verse-related workshops. Skilllman has authored ten books of poems.
From 1977 - 1978 she held a teaching assistantship at the University of Maryland, while working towards my masters degree in English Literature. She received the King County Arts Commission's Publication Prize in 1987, judged by Madeline DeFrees. This prize of $5,000 enabled her to find a publisher for my first book, 'Worship of the Visible Spectrum' (Breitenbush Books.) In 1991 Skillman was awarded a Washington State Arts Commission Writer's Fellowship in the amount of $5,000. This grant provided funding from March 1991 - February 1992.
Three residencies during the 90's, one from the Hedgebrook Cottages for Women Writers, and two from the Centrum Foundation, allowed her to pursue her creative work while raising three children. In addition, she received the Richard Hugo Memorial Scholarship in 1992 to attend the Centrum Writer's Conference. Other awards include the Stafford Award from the Washington Poet's Association, First Prize in the Pacific Northwest Writers Conference, and Honorable Mentions from The Journal and Kalliope.
Judith did graduate work in Romantic Literature and Translation Seminars at the University of Washington in the Department of Comparative Literature from 1994 - 1995. She was commissioned from 1994 - 1997 as a literary artist member of a three-person team to create an original artwork for the Kent Regional Justice Center. My poem 'The Jury' is etched in the windows of the jury waiting room.
Poems were nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 1984 and 2001. During this period, she also published two books of poems with Blue Begonia Press. The first, 'Beethoven and the Birds,' was funded by the press, and the second, 'Storm,' received additional support in the form of an Eric Mathieu King Fund Award from the Academy of American Poets. Her collection 'Red Town,' published by Silverfish Review in 2001, received a Bumbershoot Literary Arts Award and was a finalist in the Washington Center for the Book Award. 'Circe's Island,' was published by Silverfish Review Press (80 pp., 2003.)
In 2003 she was a finalist in the David Robert Books Competition and my book, 'Latticework,' the result of a collaboration with textile artist Erika Carter, was published in 2004. Her 'New and Selected Poems: 1986 ' 2006' was published by Silverfish Review Press in 2006, with an introduction by David Kirby.
In August of 1999, Skillman was a translator in residence at the European College of Literary Translators and Interpreters in Seneffe, Belgium, with expenses paid. She is a member of the Richard Hugo House and Associated Writing Programs (AWP.) She taught Business and Humanities at City University from 1985 ' 2005. Currently, she a faculty member at the University of Phoenix, Washington Campus. She teaches writing at the Richard Hugo House in Seattle, Washington.
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The Never: An Abstract by the Author,
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This review is from: The Never (Paperback)
The Never treats themes such as the disappearance of the pastoral landscape, endangered and extinct species, and antiques. Bliss, loss, and mortality are threaded together with the lyricism and depth readers have come to expect from Skillman. Three sections create a motif of upward movement--from Quicksand, to Land Bound, to The Grounds of Heaven.An excerpt from Extinction's Cousin-- "What name will you give me, the one without fur, scales, or feather? What will you say to a second extinction? I came to the island of trash, Mauritius, near Madagascar, where there are certain butterflies and jewels left among corrugated roofs and contraptions to siphon rainwater into buckets that reek with odorous sulphurs. I was looking for a fluke. Perhaps the Dodo bird. Give me something endemic to the landscape-- no palms, no sugarcane..." An excerpt from From the Grasslands-- "...The myths died and settled at our feet like elephant seals. Our clothes wore more deeply than our dreams. The sun came out of hiding to redden our skin. It was then that the world caught fire." Certainly climate change is part of the ongoing dialog between animals and humans in this collection.
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