Lost for Words is Rufus Skeens’ first volume of poetry. His poetry has been widely published in regional poetry journals, including the Sow’s Ear Review, A! Magazine for the Arts, Red River Review, Now & Then, and Appalachian Heritage, to name a few.
Skeens is a retired coal miner who bases his poetry from a working man’s perspective. In his writings, Skeens attempts to cover moments in intense analysis, rather than attempting to write about disparate incidents spanning days, weeks, or years. Thus, Skeens’ viewpoint often radically diverges from the common poet’s rambling attempts to describe time and place with clarity. Skeens believes he can competently describe the intensity inherent in a moment, creating a mood that’s ultimately sensitive, yet vivid in detail.
As a backdrop for Skeens’ poetry, he makes use of his life experiences growing up, and working in the coalfields of Southern Appalachia. Poverty, sweat, sorrow—Skeens has lived it, and rather than allow the region’s constraints to limit his imagination, he has used his hard-earned experience to give birth to poetry. His poetry.
Skeens has won numerous awards for his writing skills, but takes far more pride in watching someone read and enjoy his poems than focus on who has won this or won that.
Mr. Skeens currently resides in Bristol, Virginia. He came of age in the vast mountains of Grundy, Virginia, where coal is the king who has been dethroned.