Judith Skillman’s poetry has been nominated for the Pushcart, Best of the Web, the UK Kit Award, and is included in Best Indie Verse of New England (to mention just a few honors). Her work has appeared in many anthologies and journals, and her work as an artist has also attracted notice. She’s published sixteen poetry collections of acclaim, which you can find at her official website. How did you decide on the title of your new poetry collection, Come Home to Winter? A number of the poems deal with “the dark seasons,” at least here in the northwest: autumn and winter: “The Quaking Aspen’s First Autumn,” for instance. Then there more than a few pieces about aging, including “Rheumatism” and “Mobility”. It seems fairly clear, now that I am in my mid-sixties, that winter is more than an apt metaphor for the aging process, and also, ultimately, for mortality. To equate a season with the body once seemed too precious, too cliché. I suppose I was ageist. But it occurred to me lately that all young people must be ageist, really. It’s part and parcel of youth’s innocence and arrogance. It is a necessary defense that enables one to continue...