Annette Skade’s Thimblerig is a strikingly original first collection.
Her poems show a gifted vitality with regard to language and in turn, her subject matter and even titles are imbued with a sense of saying something differently, from ‘A Map of My House in Terms of Light’ to ‘Garden Geometry’ lies an interesting otherworldliness. It is as if, in her own words, ‘I’ve tried to explain the strangeness of working without the sun …’
Joe Woods (Poet & Director of Poetry Ireland)
‘Her inner naturalist seeks a language that has both a scientific and a casual read and it this mixing of perspective that energizes so many of the poems.’
Paula Meehan (Poet & Professor of Poetry)
‘These poems of sea and land, of birth and death, face the great issues… The theme is absorbingly sustained throughout this brilliant book.’
Bernard O’Donoghue (Poet)
There are also delights aplenty to be found in the work of emerging voices. To cite just two: Annette Skade’s poem, ‘The Caul,’ considers the peculiar longing for a removable birth defect, as if something essential has been lost; while Jennifer Matthews’ beautifully-paced ‘Expecting’ explores the boundaries of creativity, always allowing for the moment of enlightenment.
Billy O’Callaghan (Irish Examiner Review, December 2013)
“Skade is at her best as a writer and recorder of history and tale, her preoccupations are carried through the text as light-maps. She uses the symbols of the caul, the moth, and the cord (as rope, umbilicus, even as muscle ).
Skade’s investigation of nature is where she triumphs as in Solstice Rose. This poem and Oak Grove in particular show a poet who is an imagist. A perfect image is accomplished in thirteen brief words,…
Christine Murray Notes on the Half-hidden. Feb 2014 Poethead.org
Annette has also had excellent reviews from Tom D’Evelyn, Ohio. Read ‘Annette Skade and the Good News about Poetry’ (Oct 2015) here and a review of her poem ‘Force Ten’ here ( May 2016)