An old friend of mine, Karen Skolfield, is presently living my dream of being a successful author in New England (I grumble inside as I note that I am not successful, an author, or living in New England – but they would all be nice) writing poetry. Her book, Frost in the low areas, has earned her the 2014 PEN New England Award in poetry, the First Book Award from Zone 3 Press, the 2014 Split This Rock poetry prize, and the 2012 Oboh Prize from Boxcar Poetry Review.

I’ve known Karen for almost thirty years now, first meeting when she was an upper classman in the Latin I class I took as a freshman in high school. She sat near the door with the other juniors and seniors, while David Onuschak and I, along with the other freshman, sat clear on the other side of the room sincerely translating “Magnus puellas aqua portent” into “Big girls water gates” – word order is everything and nothing in Latin.

The next year, in Latin II, I became seriously smitten by her and spent a good number of hours trying to casually ride my bike in front of her house in case she happened to step outside and have a ‘chance meeting’. She wouldn’t know this because chance never favored me, or perhaps it was just sparing me the embarrassment of having to explain why I was riding past so often on a dead-end street.

— Passage of vast amounts of time —

Some 28 years later, I found Karen through common friends on Facebook, and I’ve been delighted to reconnect. Recently, she launched her new website karenskolfield.com where you can read about her, her work, and follow her blog. She’s looking for readers (of both her blog and book) and would love to spread the word about her site, so please check it out, provide some links to it and perhaps even buy her book. Let’s not let her fear the audience of one again.