Mapping the Artist Dorothy Skiles

Dorothy Skiles and Kathabela Wilson

Dorothy Skiles is a tender and honest poet of psychological depth and observant detail. The humor and originality of her imagery transports us.

Dorothy is a vibrant leader, a warm welcoming host, a sensitive, helpful friend who carries the spirit of Sunland -Tujunga in her heart.

By Kathabela Wilson

A telescope on the poet

How did you become a poet, were you cultured as a child, or did it come later? What were your early influences?

I was born in Karlsruhe, Germany after World War II. My father was an American officer and my mother was a German war bride. I had a twin brother, who died several weeks after birth. I’m the second oldest of five children. We came to live in Venice Beach. I used to go across the street to my paternal grandmother’s house for breakfast and to listen to her tell me stories. My beloved Grandma, died a few weeks before my fifteenth birthday. We were very close and she was the inspiration for the first poem I ever wrote. That poem was destroyed along with several other of my earliest poems in the Tujunga Flood of 1978​. ​A deluge of muddy rain water filled our backyard and shed, very little was salvageable.

I was a curious and persistent child. ​My grandma​ was a great storyteller, whether ​she told ​stories from the Bible or from her own experiences. She had a natural flair for the dramatic. Recently I wrote a tribute poem to her, Dorothea Muriel Hale 1897-1962). The last lines read:

“Even now, Grandma still comes calling…
I’m back in her kitchen, wrapped
In the familiar smells of
coffee brewing, bacon crackling.
I take it all in – her twinkling eyes”

A microscope on the poet

Dorothy Skiles in Sunland-Tujunga’s July 4th Parade as the Poet Laureate in 2012

What is the essence of your inspiration now, and how do your travels play a part in your poetry?

My best inspiration comes ​from​ experiencing new sights, smells, taste, sounds, and touch. All of this new stimulation heightens my awareness and I begin the creative process of writing a poem. In 2005, my husband Bill and I retired and enjoy traveling together. This is so stimulating to my poetry. We married in 1972 and settled down in his hometown of Sunland-Tujunga and raised two fraternal twin sons, and now enjoy the newness of our grandchildren. There is a spiritual thread that runs through my poems, my writings have explored both faith and doubt and the tension between them. My poetry is visual, creating a sense of time and place. I’m most creative when I take the ordinary and view it with a new lens. We just returned from France, and among “The Lilacs of Lyon” (2015) I felt at home but full of new experience. At Stonehenge I was intrigued and humbled by the age and greatness. In “Leaves Folding Inward” I learn the ways of aging friends at 90, always full of new beauty.

Pulse of the poet

Dorothy Skiles and her husband Bill at Stonehenge.

I know you love working with people, but also had to work with technical writing for LA County. Did anything particularly surprise you with inspiration during your working years?

I’m a big picture person, and I get impatient with details. However, during the last half of my career with the County of Los Angeles, Department of public Social Services, I did a lot of technical writing, working with a team of people that interpreted federal laws and state regulations and writing policies and procedures to implement required changes. At the beginning, this was not easy for me. I much rather work with people, assisting the public, which I did earlier in my career. Over time, however, the discipline required and skills learned, soon spilled into my creative work as well. Surprisingly, this experience with detail, like my storyteller grandma, made me a better poet.

Mapping the poet

Dorothy Skiles.

Your gracious hosting of Village Poets readings in Sunland-Tujunga is so engaging and inviting, how has this place and your position in the poetic community become a rich part of your experience?

My love for working with people was able to really re-bloom when I became I Poet Laureate of Sunland-Tujunga, 2012-2014. This gave me the opportunity to bring poetry to various community organizations and to write and deliver a poems for special civic events. I’m the President of the Village Poets of Sunland-Tujunga and we sponsor monthly poetry readings at Bolton Hall, inviting well established poets from Los Angeles, the foothills, and beyond. These events are a meeting place for the community and poets alike to gather and enjoy an afternoon of poetry.
My poems have appeared in a variety of community publications. I’m also a long time member of the Sunland-Tujunga Chupa Rosa Writers, and have published several chapbooks over the years, both on my own and in collaboration with other poets.

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