JAKE SKEETS’S EYES BOTTLE DARK WITH A
MOUTHFUL OF FLOWERSFirst
Writer
THE PRACTICAL125 POETS & WRITERS^T
HE locals keep telling me that the stormy
weather is unusual for this time of year but
that the rain is a welcome change from last
year’s dry spell. The glorious Albuquerque
sky is overcast, and the tourists are in a dark mood. The
cold will surely disrupt their leisurely walks around Old
Town—about ten blocks of historic adobe buildings dat-
ing back to eighteenth-century Spanish colonists. I’m in
a nearby hotel lobby waiting for poet Jake Skeets and his
partner, Quanah Yazzie, to arrive from Tsaile, Arizona,
about a three-hour drive away.
Skeets, whose debut collection, E yes B ot tl e Dark W ith a
Mouthful of Flowers, is out now from Milkweed Editions,
finally makes his entrance. He’s six foot three, with a
husky upper body and a boyish expression on his face.
After an awkward hug, he tells me that Yazzie has taken
the car for some light maintenance. They made the drive
in record time, he says, but he wants to be sure they can
make it back to Tsaile without a problem. We will begin
our day walking alongside those disappointed tourists.
Despite the chilly drizzle, Old Town is buzzing with
activity. At the center, the historic San Felipe de Neri
church has been sitting here since 1793. And in front of
the plaza, a row of Indigenous jewelry sellers display their
wares on blankets laid out along the sidewalk. The prices
of the pieces can be steep, but the sellers are prepared:
They accept all major credit cards.
Once the rain subsides, we sit outside one of the shops
that sells Mexican folk art and lemonade. We will chat
here until the next downpour.
“I don’t like the term Native American,” Skeet s tel ls
me. “It’s too convenient and too quickly politicized. It
doesn’t leave room for my particular experience. I say
I’m Diné first.”
Skeets was born in Gallup, New Mexico, in 1991, the
son of Durinda, an administrative assistant for the Navajo
Tribal Utility Authority, and Douglas, a lab technician
at Gallup Indian Medical Center. The couple met while
Durinda was still in high school.
“My dad was cruising around in his ’68 Pontiac Firebird
de and simply approached her after school, which was how
id
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RIGOBERTO GONZÁLEZ
is a contributing editor of
Poets & Writers Magazine.