Ask the Author: Karen Skolfield

Karen Skolfield’s poetry appears in the June issue. She talks with us about the irony of a blackout in an engineering building, the power spikes of lesbians, and becoming smaller and faster.

1. How ironic is a blackout at the college of engineering?

I know – isn’t that fun? Though engineers are not electricians. My husband, an electrical engineer, will tell you he knows communication theory, but not how to rewire the kitchen lights. Still, the tension between the expectations of engineering and the lights going out caught my attention.

2. What would Ben Franklin say about The Cure’s “All Cats Are Grey”?

The lyrics to The Cure song are fairly dark and don’t have the sexual energy that Ben Franklin was conveying, but Franklin was a brilliant man who acknowledged his humanity and I’m sure he’d make it his theme song. I can imagine him inventing something, tinkering away, with the song as background. It’s got that feel to it – work music that won’t interrupt your thoughts.

3. How would you work in the word “lesbian” when it comes to power spikes?

Engineering felt very – let’s say – straight-laced when I first started working at the college, and it was hard to imagine talking about anything even slightly edgy. But that had to do with my expectations, not the reality of my workplace. And I loved the wordplay of “lesbian” and “power,” and the rhyming cache of “spikes.”

4. What would you make smaller and faster?

Smaller: malls, McMansions, SUVs, my “To-Do” list.
Faster: everyone’s commute to work, my kids remembering to say “please” and “thank you,” forgiveness.
Smaller and Faster: the lines at the Registry of Motor Vehicles, lines at the grocery store, lines for the best roller coasters – lines everywhere!

5. How does science influence your writing?

Enormously. Right now I’m stuck on evolution, especially convergent evolution. There’s so much poetry in science, from natural science to chemistry to physics to any branch of engineering. For instance, did you know that slugs and snails – gastropods – eat with their feet? Doesn’t that make you want to go write something? And I love some of the engineering and mathematics terms my husband uses. Minimax robustness. Countably infinite. Probability one. The greedy algorithm. Fabulous!

6. What would you engineer?

When I was a kid, I thought that everything that could be invented had been invented. That was before the personal computer, the internet, CDs, etc., so as you can see I had very little vision. I’m more the social observer than the engineer – but if I could, I’d engineer a more equal distribution of wealth in the United States. Also a popsicle that takes longer to melt.