Dorianne Laux introduced me to R.D. Skillings, or, rather, his work. She brought some of his poems to her Bear River workshop. Actually, calling them poems isn't entirely accurate. His book,
P-town Stories, or, The Meatrack, is categorized as fiction and much of what's in it is just that. There are some poems, too, but the best pieces are what I suppose are best called prose poetry. One or two paragraphs of witty, snarky brilliance.
Christ
I was in a bookshop on Orleans and I said to the owner Do you have Kate Millet's Sexual Politics? The woman said This is a Christian bookshop. Well I said I'm very interested in Women's Liberation. Do you have anything at all in that line? And the woman said Christ is our liberator.
College
When I was 16 or 17 I used to drink in a bar like this, I'd wait till my parents went to bed and then climb out the window. One night my father caught me coming in and he just picked up my stereo and threw it at the wall. That was when I decided I'd better to go college, get the hell out.
(R. D. Skillings, from P-town Stories, or, The Meatrack, 1980 Apple-wood Press)
Dorianne Laux introduced me to R.D. Skillings, or, rather, his work. She brought some of his poems to her Bear River workshop. Actually, calling them poems isn't entirely accurate. His book, P-town Stories, or, The Meatrack, is categorized as fiction and much of what's in it is just that. There are some poems, too, but the best pieces are what I suppose are best called prose poetry. One or two paragraphs of witty, snarky brilliance.
1 comment:
The cover of this book is awful. Is Skillings a lesbian novel writer circa 1989?
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