Battle Dress

by Karen Skolfield

Winner of the Massachusetts Book Award

"A terrific and sometimes terrifying collection―morally complex, rhythmic, tough-minded, and original." ―Rosanna Warren, 2018 Barnard Women Poets Prize citation In a poetic voice at once accessible and otherworldly, gutsy and insightful, U.S. Army veteran Karen Skolfield offers a rare glimpse of a female soldier’s training and mental conditioning. Through the narratives of a young soldier, her older counterpart, and her fellow soldiers, Skolfield searches for meaning in combat preparation, long-term trauma, and the way war is embedded in our language and psyche.

Genres: Poetry

80 pages, Paperback

First published August 13, 2019

About the author

Karen Skolfield’s book Battle Dress (W. W. Norton, 2019) won the Barnard Women Poets Prize and is a Massachusetts “Must Read” selection. Her book Frost in the Low Areas (Zone 3 Press) won the 2014 PEN New England Award in poetry, and she is the winner of the 2016 Jeffrey E. Smith Editors’ Prize in poetry from The Missouri Review. Skolfield is a U.S. Army veteran and teaches writing to engineers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst; she’s the poet laureate for Northampton, MA for 2019-2021.

Reviews

[Kai Metcalfe · Rating 4 out of 5]

The military isn't a topic I often read about, but the military from a deployed mother's perspective drew me in.

Skolfield's collection of poems in Battle Dress constantly forced me to stop and reflect. Candid depictions of quotidian life tinged with subtle intensity, "Due to Historical Accuracy, Hazards are Present" or "Anticipate gunshots in the second half of the play" made me feel on edge, but not exactly in a bad way. Hyper aware. Misled or suspicious. Despondent. Somber.

The Army SMART Book poems are punchy, "Small-arms fire may sound like mosquitoes" and "M18A1 Claymore Mine" were darkly humorous favorites of mine.

Reading "Rifle: Verb, noun" made me feel wobbly, off-balance, almost out of control, and dizzy. Loved the repetition. "Army SMART Book: Inspirational Quote (1)" made me feel hollow and rejected.

This book had me empathizing with soldiers more than I ever have and seeing their experiences with a lens of humanness instead of the lens of Military Industrial Complex.

[Meaghan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A provocative and powerful reflection on the army from a woman's perspective. I didn't like this as much as "Frost in the Low Areas", but it was still a decent collection.
.
My favorites:
-"On Veterans Day, My Daughter Wishes Me Happy Veterinarians Day"
-"Army SMART Book: "Small-arms fire may sound like mosquitoes"
-"The Sentry Responds"
-"CNN Report: Rise in Sexual Assaults, Reprisals in the Military (2016)"
-"Why I Never Wrote About the Army"
-"Concertina Wire: Origin < from concert"
-"War: Origin < Old German, to confuse"
-"Poem with the Moment the Infantry Unit Is Given Clearance to Shoot Children"
-"Ode to Meals, Ready to Eat"
-"Army SMART Book: M18A1 Claymore Mine"
-"Wyoming Field Tactics"
-"Most Lauded Advances in Medical Technology from the Global War on Terror"
-"CNN Report: Symptoms of PTSD Mimic Lyme Disease"

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredibly sad, but beautiful.

Army SMART Book: Inspirational Quotes (I)
"You cannot be disciplined in great things and be undisciplined
in small things. There is only one sort of discipline-
perfect discipline."
-General George S. Patton Jr

"I hate having female recruits,"
Drill Sergeant Robinson told us.
"The males, I can break.
I break them down, build them
back up, then they do anything
for me. Females don't break."
The sadness in his voice
makes us sad, too. We wanted
to break. Maybe we could fake
being good soldiers.
What would breaking look like,
for the females? Tears
we already knew how to do.

[Caroline DuBois · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing! Evocative! Read in a single sitting. Stirring commentary on war, peace, parenthood, and the military.

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

A nuanced and chilling look at a woman serving in the military. Excellent and haunting poems.

[Brad Huestis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the book, the reading and the poet. If you are interested in how it was to serve as a woman, this book of poems was written for you

[Beverley Sylvester · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gorgeous and intricate language for painful and unspoken-of hardship of a soldier, particularly a female soldier.

[John Adams · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting collection of poems from the perspective of a woman soldier.