CAROL SMALLWOOD INTEVIEWS POET JUDITH SKILLMAN
Poet: Judith Skillman
Publisher: Shanti Arts; April 2020
ISBN: 978-1-951651-26-8 (print; softcover; perfect bound)
94 pages; $12.95
Interview by Carol Smallwood
Judith Skillman is author of around twenty collections of poetry. She is the recipient of an award from the Academy of American Poets for her book Storm (Blue Begonia Press). Her work has been nominated for Pushcart Prizes, the UK Kit Award, Best of the Web, and is included in Best Indie Verse of New England. A faculty member at the Richard Hugo House in Seattle, Washington, Skillman also paints.
Smallwood: You hold a Masters in English Literature from the University of Maryland and have done graduate work in comparative literature at the University of Washington. When did you begin writing and was it poetry?
Skillman: I began writing poetry as an undergraduate student and then, when I went back to get a master’s in English Literature, I got it with an emphasis in creative writing. The MFA degree didn’t yet exist. It was quite a privilege, as I got to hear the excellent poets who came to read at University of Maryland’s reading series: Galway Kinnell, Tess Gallagher, Stanley Kunitz, and others. Actually, looking farther back, I wrote my first poem in fourth grade as an assignment, after Kennedy was assassinated.
Smallwood: your poem, “Blue Note” notes:
those holocaust stories told
and later taken back,
as the most difficult facts
come to be handled by time
and distance.
The Truth about Our American Births asks questions about a German Jewish heritage and of generations. Do you think it takes a certain time in one’s life to really delve into family history?
Skillman: Yes, I think the family history has to be somewhat removed by time in order for it to stand out as a subject matter. It wasn’t until my children were in school— two of them even in college—that I began to have the detachment necessary to ask questions about how I’d been raised. I knew I’d felt like an exile in Prince George’s County Maryland, where we lived when I was age six until twenty eight. I felt “different” than my peers, who had Christmas and other things I envied. The feelings were there, but I had no way to articulate any coherent questions about the past.
Smallwood: reviewers have noted your figurative language and imagery in the 47 poems in the book. I particularly enjoyed these lines from “Rift:’
Hardened is the name of woman.
All hands and arms.
Hangnails come to tell.
Chores for the charwoman.
See her bend into soap.
Lean away from leisure.
In her stained rag a map of the world.
Countries never seen.
Why did you use a period at the end of each line?
Skillman: I suppose end-stopping these lines seemed appropriate when I wrote it because the persona is angry. She is enraged at the misogyny that exists in society and culture and religion throughout history. And so the poem became deliberately choppy.
Smallwood: what have you noted about the generational role of women?
This is a big question. Women give birth, nurture infants and children, and hold families together. I would say that from my own experience, women create in many ways, and provide a “generative” force as well as one that spans the generations. In addition, because we are trained to be verbal from an early age, we women often end up as the “storytellers” of the family. This is important role in that creating family certified “tall tales and legends” may enable those who are young to better understand their own origins.
But because ours is a patriarchal society, more often than not the work of women isn’t recognized financially. My views are admittedly 20th century, but in fields where women abound, such as teaching, they are under compensated. In arenas where women compete, including the arts and sciences, still females often are the ones who take it upon themselves to provide for basic needs of family and offspring. There are so many strong women I admire, including my mother and sister. All have had substantial obstacles to overcome.
Smallwood: what are you working on now?
Skillman: I am working on a manuscript that pulls work from six books and contains poems written over the past couple of years. Also I’m co-editing an anthology on domestic violence http://www.persephonesdaughters.tk/submit/
Smallwood: readers can learn more about Judith Skillman on: www.judithskillman.com
MORE ABOUT THE INTERVIEWER
Carol Smallwood, MLS, MA, Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award recipient, is a literary reader, judge, interviewer; her 13th poetry collection is Thread, Form, and Other Enclosures (Main Street Rag, 2020)
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