Review of "After Skate" by Carol Muske-Dukes

After Skate by Carol Muske-Dukes, once the Poet Laureate of California, was offered by Poets.org's Poem-A-Day on May 20, 2013.  The poet reveals in her notes that skateboarders in California enjoy skating in the abandoned swimming pools of foreclosed and abandoned properties.  Her poem paints the skateboarders as minor gods of doom, riding on broken dreams and despair.  After Skate is a powerful song, sadly an anthem for the once wealthy who have lost everything during the current economic downturn.  Those filled with schadenfreude will derive some cynical pleasure from a reading of After Skate, no doubt.  However, any reader with even a shred of empathy will not remain unmoved by Ms. Muske-Dukes' verse.