Orient is the third collection from one of Western Canada's most accomplished poets.
Composed mainly of three long poems — an extended meditation on the connection between man and fish, the lament of a big-souled cowboy poet looking up from rock bottom, and a historical envisioning of an intimate relationship between a pioneer and a powerful crone — Orient leaps, sings, burrows down, and orients the reader within its rich ecosystem. The appeal of these poems lies partly in their blend of humility (the open-minded approach), in their force (the taut style, the original vision) and in an astonishing boldness. Wigmore is a "poet of place" in the best sense: "about the big picture."
I had a job and then I didn't
but once I spoke a tavern sermon
that came to me in darkness
and men I knew who crossed the street
who shunned me in daylight
they wept
and that's something
— from "tavern"
Gillian Wigmore is the author of two previous books of poems: soft geography (Caitlin Press, 2007), winner of the 2008 ReLit Award, and Dirt of Ages (Nightwood, 2012), as well as a novella, Grayling, (MotherTongue Publishing). Her work has been published in magazines, shortlisted for prizes and anthologized. She lives in Prince George, BC.
"[Wigmore's] work is earthy and rich, always skimming close to the bone." - Ariel Gordon, The 49th Shelf