The orca hit by a fishing boat
knew pain that lingered,
an open sore on her flank, that
weeping, would not let her sleep
for weeks, so traumatized was she
in a delirium of dream so that
she came to fear all such apparitions
sailing into her sullied turquoise waters
off the coast of Gibraltar (though she had
a different name for the place in clicks
and beeps) …
Poem, in its entirety, is available in the printed version of the current issue.
Bio:
A poet, editor, and reviewer, Gillian Harding-Russell has published five poetry collections, most recently In Another Air (Radiant Press, 2018) and Uninterrupted (Ekstasis Editions, 2020), both nominated for Saskatchewan Book Awards. The Alfred Gustav Press released the chapbook Megrim in 2021. Her work has been published widely in literary journals across Canada.