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#7
POETRY
December 2020

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.
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).