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 grew up in Vanderhoof, BC, and graduated
from the University of Victoria in 1999. She has been published in Geist, CV2, filling station, and the Inner Harbour Review, among others. Wigmore won the 2008 ReLit Award for her work Soft Geography and was also shortlisted for the Dorothy Livesay BC Book Prize. She lives in north central BC with her husband and two children.

Gillian Wigmore's profile page

"[Wigmore's] work is earthy and rich, always skimming close to the bone." - Ariel Gordon, The 49th Shelf