"These poems are stitched with lush, unforeseen textures and unexhausted time. …They make the ghost of John Keats smile in ecstasy. Raymond Roussel would have kept this collection under his pillow." —Lucy Ives
Emily Skillings’ highly anticipated second collection of poems, Tantrums in Air, is a wild romp through verbal reality, marking her as one of contemporary poetry's shining stars of humor, insight and edge. It follows her first collection, Fort Not, published by the Song Cave in 2017, which Publishers Weekly called a "fabulously eccentric, hypnotic and hypervigilant debut." Skillings writes through various poetic forms. Featuring a ballet in four acts—"part ghost, part sponge / a lump of pure refusal"—addresses to past loves—"I circle the circle / Of a compact mirror, open"—and an unconventional treatise on education, Tantrums in Air is smart and honest, reinventing both what’s possible and what we should expect from poetry. Emily Skillings received her MFA from Columbia University School of the Arts. Her recent work has been featured in Harper’s, Poetry, Granta and the New York Review of Books.
PRAISE AND REVIEWS
Publishers Weekly (starred review)
In her excellent sophomore outing, Skillings ('Fort Not') combines the brutal and acerbic honesty of confessionalism with the self-deprecating humor of the New York School to create an irresistibly original work.
LitHub
Christopher Spaide
This year, no poetry renewed my faith in that well-worn mode, autobiography, more than Emily Skillings’s second collection 'Tantrums in Air.'
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FORMAT: Pbk, 5.5 x 7.5 in. / 96 pgs. LIST PRICE: U.S. $18.95 LIST PRICE: CANADA $25.95 GBP £16.00 ISBN: 9798991298803 PUBLISHER: The Song Cave AVAILABLE: 6/24/2025 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Active AVAILABILITY: In stock TERRITORY: WORLD
"These poems are stitched with lush, unforeseen textures and unexhausted time. …They make the ghost of John Keats smile in ecstasy. Raymond Roussel would have kept this collection under his pillow." —Lucy Ives
Emily Skillings’ highly anticipated second collection of poems, Tantrums in Air, is a wild romp through verbal reality, marking her as one of contemporary poetry's shining stars of humor, insight and edge. It follows her first collection, Fort Not, published by the Song Cave in 2017, which Publishers Weekly called a "fabulously eccentric, hypnotic and hypervigilant debut." Skillings writes through various poetic forms. Featuring a ballet in four acts—"part ghost, part sponge / a lump of pure refusal"—addresses to past loves—"I circle the circle / Of a compact mirror, open"—and an unconventional treatise on education, Tantrums in Air is smart and honest, reinventing both what’s possible and what we should expect from poetry.
Emily Skillings received her MFA from Columbia University School of the Arts. Her recent work has been featured in Harper’s, Poetry, Granta and the New York Review of Books.
