Jake Skeets, 2024 University of Mississippi John and Renée Grisham Writer-in-Residence, spoke about his latest poetry collection on Thacker Mountain Radio on Thursday, Feb. 15. The event was held at Off-Square Books, and many students, faculty and members of the Oxford community attended.
Born in Gallup, N.M., Skeets is a professor of creative writing at the University of Oklahoma. Skeets’ poetry collection, published in 2019, is entitled “Eyes Bottle Dark with a Mouthful of Flowers.” Skeets read a poem from this collection at the event.
The collection draws heavily on Skeets’ childhood in New Mexico. The cover of the book pictures a rugged, filthy man whom Skeets identified as his uncle. The photograph, Skeets explained, was actually taken by famous American photographer Richard Avedon.
“Richard Avedon was traveling through the American West, and he was taking pictures of people in odd jobs — people who worked as beekeepers or were in the circus,” Skeets said. “And then he came through Gallup, New Mexico, where we lived, and that’s where he took a picture of my uncle.”
Skeets noted that Avedon made a unique choice when labeling Skeets’ uncle’s profession.
“Interestingly, (Avedon) listed my uncle’s occupation as a drifter,” Skeets said. “I don’t know why, because my uncle worked as a mechanic, which is why he’s covered in all that dirt.”
A guiding principle of Skeets’s poetry is economy, or using as few words as possible to express himself.
“Economy is a big part of my practice as a poet,” Skeets said. “My mom told me to be a lawyer, actually, but I didn’t ever make it.”
Among the most prevalent motifs in Skeets’ poems are charcoal and railroads. The former, Skeets said, relates to his Native American heritage, specifically a traditional Navajo ritual.
“Whenever you’re having a hard time, you have the ceremony. You sort of slather ash on your body — it’s a charcoal type of ash. You literally cover your full self with it, and it’s a way of moving into the world with a kind of protective second skin,” Skeets said.
As for the railroads, Skeets again recalled his childhood.
“The railroad cuts right through Gallup,” Skeets said. “The whole reason Gallup has its name is because the paymaster was David Gallup, and so people would say when they wanted their paychecks, ‘Let’s go to Gallup,’ and that’s how the town became known. And as a kid, eating at Burger King, going to the mall, all you hear all day is the trains going through, the whistle.”
Undoubtedly, Skeets’ New Mexico background and Native American heritage heavily influenced his poetry.
Jeanne Tarullo Hays, an Oxford resident who grew up in Louisville, Ky., noted the importance of being exposed to those from different areas and backgrounds.
“I’ve never been able to hear from anybody who comes from a New Mexico Native American background, which I think was really interesting,” Hays said. “We pride ourselves in Mississippi about the sense of place, and I think we have to keep in mind that everybody has their own sense of place that might be very different from what we’re used to.”
Michael Wang, assistant professor of creative writing at UM, shared that he enjoyed hearing from Skeets, as well as reading his poetry collection.
“He’s very much in tune with his heritage,” Wang said. “(The collection) is very dense, but powerful, and a lot of it is also understated, too.”
Wang believes Skeets has a bright future in writing.
“Jake is an up-and-coming poet,” Wang said. “He’s in the process of being established, and I think he’ll do some great things in the future.”
