Collected Poems, 1958-1998

THIS COLLECTION PRESENTS the most compelling work of Edmund Skellings, poet laureate of Florida. It gathers together poems from five books and includes a reading on compact disc of fifty of them. A foreword by critic Donald L. Kaufmann discusses Skellings' major themes and purposes and places him in the tradition of contemporary American letters.

Skellings' previously published books engage the greatest themes of literature: man against nature in Heart Attacks; man confronting man in Face Value; man against society in Showing My Age. Living Proof celebrates the creative moments in the arts, sciences, and daily life. A collection of poems never before in print, Personal Effects, reflects Skellings' insistence that human empathy must be the aim of mature imagination.

Writing and publishing for almost forty years, Skellings is renowned for his wit, humor, and high spirits as well as his trenchant social comment. Among the leading poets who have praised his books, the late William Stafford wrote, "Experiment, vigor, and independence come naturally to the work of Skellings. He releases words into places they never thought they'd go. . . . His iambic penslammeter is one of the greatest things since Shakespeare loosed Puck to slink through the King's English." Fred Chappell characterized his work as "careful nonchalance . . . pith and vinegar."

With the customary flair of his language, these poems brings vintage Skellings back into print. Because Skellings is one of the finest live performers of poetry, the digital recording bound into the book will make this a collector's item of remarkable value.