Even the Least of These by Anita Skeen was published last month by Michigan State University Press and includes a series of stunning linocuts by artist Laura B. DeLind. The poems are situated during the covid-19 pandemic, a time in which Skeen deepened her relationship with the ten-line poem and wrote one a day, selecting the best for her collection. Committed to this form, she has taught workshops on such and was open, in this book, to the twenty-line poem as well. Many of the poems are observations of the natural world and its creatures—birds, cats, bats, ants, termites, beetles, woodchucks and chickens. “No Wheelbarrow, No Rain” gives a sly nod to William Carlos Williams. In another poem it is a banana popsicle that is “so sweet and so cold.” Skeen turned 74 during the pandemic and writes a poem about it, as well as her grandchildren with the urgency of capturing her life, her own mother, and her childhood. There’s even a how-to poem called “Ten Lines,’ which begins “In the first one set the scene….” There’s a charm and ease to these poems while not shying away from the trauma of the pandemic or the lives lost.
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Author: Denise Duhamel
