Kris Ringman, Sail Skin (Handtype Press, 2022) 70 pages, poetry. More info here.
Kris Ringman has written a contemplative poetry collection that aches with the longing for connection. There are images of taxidermy, an affinity with animals (particularly of the canine family), a cross-section of cultures, a cannibalism fetish, and, most strongly, a series of poems about sailing and the sea.
As a disabled person myself, I decided to reach out to presses that focus on publishing the work of disabled poets as a reviewer. This book is part of that initiative. Ringman is a deaf poet and writes from that perspective. Among their poems are those which speak of the "outside" feeling of being deaf and the idea of foxes that sign: "hands/ in the air spell out their feelings" - "If Paws Were Hands". A sublime moment is this: "The only reason I wish I could hear/ is to learn how to open my mouth - / ... // I want to make you weep/ from just one word - " - "Mountain".
Other favourite lines are:
"I follow them/ without my body, only the wish to become." - "Can't I Just Be a Fox?"
"like the memories you carry of the men/ who have assaulted you?// So careful,/ how they slow down - " - "That Precarious Edge"
"The problem with having lived in several countries/ is everything follows you home." - "That Precarious Edge"
"Since when is the world a solid place to stand?" - "A Boat Carries You"
"Sometimes only the broken pieces/ are showing, but that doesn't mean/ the rest isn't whole." - "Fox Skin"
