loose feathers, by Kyle Skinner

Poetry, chapbook, 20 pages, from Bottlecap Features. loose feathers is a short collection of 12 poems that portray the self-destructive nature of nostalgia, emphasizing the ability of our human minds to miss out on the beautiful divinity of sadness when we focus on previous joy. Through poems ranging from feelings of intense loneliness to serene bliss, it is a reminder of the things we should focus on. Nature, family, friends. Literature and divinity. The beauty of a fleeting world. The things beyond what a materialistic society tells us to value. It taps into emotions at their rawest, and reckons with them through words. Reasons with them through vocabulary. At its core, loose feathers is a personal and poignant exploration of what it means to be sad. How we deal with it, the people we look too, and the things that bring us home. Kyle Skinner (they/them) is a composer, percussionist, poet, and teacher based in and around Dallas, TX. They are currently in pursuit of a B.M. in Music Composition at Southern Methodist University. They adore music and poetry, letting various forms of art constantly inform and converse with Kyle’s own. Reveling in the natural; sounds, scents, and the peace that comes with it, has become central to their compositional and writing process, using the divine creation to access the music and literature they so love to write. Kyle (when not in a dorm) lives with their amazing mother and father, their sweet little sister, and when he’s home their incredible older brother. They like Mary Oliver, the rivers in Oregon, a good chai, and their old dog, Gemini.