Description
Book SynopsisStranger in the Mask of a Deer conjures an elemental, dreamlike narrative ranging from the present to the Late-Upper Palaeolithic, when the British peninsula was gradually reoccupied by humans and animals returning from the greater continent after the Ice Age. Richard Skelton began this book-length poem many years ago with the intention of exploring the history of Britain's landscape, only for the text to transform into a kind of literary seance, involving both human and other-than-human voices. Its transforming power lies in the accumulative magic of the word as ritual. Skelton's is a mesmeric lyric, probing the edges of consciousness towards a place where 'there are always presences / always inherences / things beyond sight.' 'An incredibly moving, essential meditation on where we have come from, where we are, and where we are headed.' -Kerri ni Dochartaigh
Trade Review'An incredibly moving, essential meditation on where we have come from, where we are, and where we are headed.' -Kerri ni Dochartaigh; 'I've been submerging myself into this book slowly, like a dip into an icy mountain pool. It's unique, intriguing, transporting.'- Becky Wragg Sykes; 'A mesmeric, conceptual book-length poem about deep history, time, life & land.' -SJ Fowler; 'Stranger in the Mask of a Deer is a sustained, book-length exploration of the boundless metaphoric landscapes and symbolically rich deep-time of the mythical unconscious.'- Peter Mark Adams, Paralibrum; 'Utterly immersive, book-length poem, voicing of human and non-human consciousnesses that reach back to the Late-Upper Paleolithic.' Kimberly Campanello
