A Handful of Sand
Of all the moving, difficult, wonderful, shame-inducing pieces in the new all-aboriginal issue of Southerly, Merrill Bray’s piece “Gloria Agnala” just blew me clear away. Set in Alice Springs it follows the final days of an Auntie, Gloria, also now a famous painter. With deft touches (she writes with a blade, not a bat) Gloria’s life is drawn small and straight but in every way writes itself large and complexly as the colonialism and the history that frames the narrative, and her life, sinks in. It’s a great short story.
It’s not always an easy journal to get here in Nth America, but seek it out if you’re able. Of course, it is a complicated and emotional read, especially for a white Australian—as it should be. Hats off to the editors for making it happen, and pulling in such a broad selection of work.
