These poems explore the place where the ordinary meets the extraordinary in the forests, hidden vales, mountains, and secret coves of the West Coast's Gulf Islands. At the heart of the collection is a meditation on the threshold of the self as the old shell cracks to reveal the luminous nature of all existence: the gold-dusted tongues of trilliums on the forest floor, stars quivering in their silky pods, the shining face of a beloved on a winter afternoon, cedar boughs parting to let through the sun's long resplendent fingers of light.

Lorraine Gane was born in Niagara Falls, Ontario, and grew up in Toronto. In the mid '70s, she graduated from Carleton University's Honours Journalism Program, then worked as a full-time writer and editor for major Canadian newspapers and magazines until 1989, when she began freelancing. In the early '90s, she also started teaching writing at universities and colleges such as Ryerson, McMaster and Georgian, as well as conducting her own private workshops. Selections from Lorraine's first poetry book, Even the Slightest Touch Thunders on My Skin (Black Moss Press, 2002), were shortlisted for the Canadian Literary Awards in 1997 and the League of Canadian Poets chapbook contest. Among her publications since moving to Salt Spring Island, B.C., are three chapbooks (Earthlight, The Phantom Orchid, and Beauty and Beyond: Songs of Small Mercies) and another volume of poems, The Blue Halo (Leaf Press, 2014). Lorraine is now working on a memoir and completing a book about writing. She mentors writers through online courses, consultations, workshops, and manuscript editing. www.lorrainegane.com.

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