Merna Dyer Skinner

A Brief History of Two Aprons Merna Dyer Skinner

"I want to build / layers of language - / bind the thought threads / that otherwise fray and tear. / The words onthis page / long to last," writes the narrator in the poem "Mistakes," in Merna Skinner's skillful and thrilling poetry debut. Palimpsest-like meanings build steadily through this book which travels to a range of settings and through pivotal moments in personal history. Skinner looks through a prismatic lens to explore both literal place in the world - Paris, New York, Spain - and displacement, as in the poem "Southern Bound White Girl" as her poems puzzle through legacies and what it means to belong. Skinner's voice takes the reader through deftly observed landscapes, often undercut with a poignant undertow, and at other moments, joyous wordplay, deliciously unexpected rhyme, and sheer delight in discovery through language. Skinner has found her home in words, and the reader is richer for visiting these many-hued rooms, both hidden within and deeply welcoming. -Elline Lipkin, author of The Errant Thread *** A Brief History of Two Aprons is honest, engaging and demonstrates the past can be a place troubled with questions. Skinner asks us ..".to describe the sound of a turning page?" as we turn page after page of beautiful poetry we find ourselves drifting through her life, and in doing so discover something about our own. These poems ..". traveling slow as heat ..." deserve to be read. -Rick Bursky, author, I'm No Longer Troubled By the Extravagance "