Journeys into and through
Hunger Moon: Stories by Traci Skuce
The Wild Heavens by Sarah Louise Butler
Nadine Ltaif and Christine Tipper (Translator)
Randy Lundy
âAndalusian Exile,â in Nadine Ltaifâs poetry collection
Journeys, begins not in Andalusia but in an urban park in Montreal at the âcorner of Ontario and Saint Urbain,â the Parterre du Quartier des spectacles where outdoor events are often held. It is from there that she muses on Tarsus, an ancient city in todayâs Turkey. The line âNothing leaves its markâ is contradicted a mere two lines later: âOnly fragments of writing / recount the commerce / between Tyre and King Hiram.â Tarsus did leave a mark: in these records, as a historic city in the bustling Adana-Mersin metropolitan area today, and even in a village in Lebanon called Tarshish. This paradoxical push-and-pull embodies many other themes that recur throughout