Jake Skeets

Eyes Bottle Dark with a Mouthful of Flowers by Jake Skeets offers the challenges of most collections and anthologies in that they usually present some things which are good, some that aren’t, some that appealed to the reader and others that didn’t. It is a brief volume of poems by a young Native American of the Diné of Navajo, the same Diné of current US Poet Laureate Joy Harjo. Few Native Americans find their way into print and even fewer of those are either poets or gay. Thus, Skeets’ writes with a voice that intimately understands what it is to be marginalized, pushed aside, ignored or even hated. His collection attempts to convey some of the pain caused by that marginalization in the most emotional of all literary forms, poetry. Sometimes, he succeeds brilliantly and other times, the poetry fails in its mission.
His collection came to my attention though the podcast, “Between the Covers,” which is loosely associated with publisher Tin House Books. Tin House focuses on supporting underrepresented writers and often produces sparkling, brilliant new works that deserve top ratings and huge sales. The reason it’s important to mention that is because hearing Skeets read and talk about some of his poetry on the podcast is an impressive experience. In his reading, listeners hear and even feel his emotions, his pain and, conversely, his excitement to be sharing his work. It is what drew me into purchasing the book.
What works in Skeets’ poetry is its ability to evoke images and inspire feelings. His mother tongue is much better suited to doing this than English because the culture of that language deals in images, nature symbolism, metaphor and similes, and in supporting a culture of caring for one another, of neighbors spread across miles who still know each other well, who share even when there is nothing to share. Friends are addressed as “uncle” and close friends as “grandfather.”
Conversely, English comes from a culture where the individual is regarded more highly than the family or group and where the language primarily uses the passive voice and ‘state of being’ verbs.
Thus, Skeets had a natural leg up for writing vivid poetry.
On the other hand, cultural isolation has left Skeets forced to use images, descriptions and contexts which cannot be easily understood outside his culture.
Since the purpose of all art is to convey meaning and a message, art must rely upon references and symbols that non-artists can understand. This is even more true with poetry where the aim of the message is to evoke feelings and emotional response.
The poems of this collection that deal with situations, images and symbols too unique to Skeets’ own personal and cultural experience and culture, and cannot carry their full impact beyond a small audience. The poems within the collection that use more readily accessed symbols and images are sure to be appreciated and loved by a broader audience.
I hope people will find and listen to the podcast I mentioned because this poet deserves a good audience, but the book alone will not deliver one.… (altro)

Dark, beautiful poems. You can smell the prairie wind in this collection. Even though Skeets isn't from Canada, this reads like something that could've been written by a kid from a Saskatchewan reserve. His use of plants and flower imagery really grabbed me.

[a:Jake Skeets|18626328|Jake Skeets|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] makes cool structural choices and is bold in his use of whitespace. Quite a bit of sexuality that is generally handled well. Oral sex is a go-to, referenced with the same amount of regularity as cigarettes in my own poetry.

Check out two poems here - http://www.spilledmilkmagazine.com/issue08. He was interviewed on "Between the Covers", which is where I found out about him.… (altro)