erica gillingham

minor english goddesses

There was Mildred, goddess

of the moors, mizzle, and mist,

the blooming gorse bush and 

the thistle, mistress of the manor,

long lost daughter of Daphne 

sister of Margot, who was goddess 

of the hedgerow, protector

of brambles and field mice,

nettles, pebbles, and footpaths,

who was once the lover of

Beatrice, goddess of the streams,

allotments, and small animals—

rabbits, badgers, rats & moles—

who carried a scythe and gave 

birth under the deep blue moon 

to Martha, goddess of the bracken,

heathers, lichens, and mosses, 

guardian of the ridge tops, striding

from dusk to daybreak, wind whipping 

fervently to the coastline where 

Lerryn kept watch over the waves, 

goddess of rock pools and tide pools,

seaweeds, fossils, and limestone,

who once threatened a gale to ruin

the most experienced of sailors.

ERICA GILLINGHAM is a queer poet & writer living in London, England, via Siskiyou County, California. She is a bookseller at Gay's The Word Bookshop, Books Editor for DIVA, & Poetry Editor for The Signal House Edition. Erica has a PhD in lesbian love stories in young adult literature and graphic novels. (She wrote a lot about kissing.) Website. Instagram.

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ADRIAN HOLMES is a printmaker devoted to Japanese printmaking and Sosaku-hanga, He graduated from the University of Plymouth with a degree in Visual Arts. Adrian is based at Krowji studios in Cornwall and teaches Japanese woodblock printmaking at both St Ives School of Painting and the West Dean College of Arts. Website. Instagram. 

(Image credit: Autumn Day Porthtowan, woodblock print on Echizen Kizuki paper by Adrian Holmes, 2020).

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