My piece ‘Starfish’ was recently nominated for the Periscope Literary Prize, although didn’t win a position, ultimately. I am currently re-submitting it elsewhere, so I can only reveal an excerpt here:
Starfish
Dedicated to all the staff of Two Whales Coffee Shop
1) The ghost
The riddle of our living is the genius beneath the suffering. I uncovered this in Newfoundland. Here I was told a colonial story of which I am the extension.
A fishing vessel was wrecked but for one survivor, brought back to Petty Harbour. Distressed, boat-less, for days he paced the coast with a telescope, hoping to spy his shipmates. In the Newfy fog I was mistaken for his ghost. I was looking for whales.
I yearned to witness them from craggy cliffs, from where wind-stunted conifers pour lichen over blueberry carpets. Nature’s sensuousness expunged old manhood’s wraith. A whale-watching ride crafted into a slick but gutsy production in an otherworldly light, gave me finally, an encounter…
Centre of the Web 