July/August 2021 | The Walrus

July/August 2021 / Poetry

Spirit at Summer’s End

June 18, 2021 - by Roo Borson

At any given moment / something rare and exact / will have happened here

A man, in the background and mostly out of frame, holds a large guitar. A smaller man in the foreground stands at the start of a curvy golden path, drawn in place of the strings of the guitar, which leads to a dandelion in the distance.

Fiction / July/August 2021

Private Hands

June 16, 2021June 17, 2021 - by Michael LaPointe

My job title was personal assistant, but all my duties pertained to Harvey’s collection. Provenance was everything. A purchase had to be like a royal marriage, the lineage assured.

A Black man embraces a Black woman who is sitting on a kitchen countertop. The woman is looking at the camera.

July/August 2021 / Visual Art

The Way We Were

June 15, 2021June 15, 2021 - by Jorian Charlton

Artist Jorian Charlton on the meaning of the Black family photo album and the essential nature of these archives

Photograph of pink flowers in a black ceramic vase on a shabby concrete floor.

July/August 2021 / Memoir

On Aging Alone

June 14, 2021June 15, 2021 - by Sharon Butala

In old age, I had to come to terms with the loneliness I’d felt all my life

July/August 2021 / Poetry

Dream Fragment

June 11, 2021June 15, 2021 - by Steven Heighton

Who among us up here / wouldn’t want his love, her love / to carry a trace that clear

Portrait of George Armstrong in a Toronto Maple Leafs jersey against a blue background.

For the Love of the Game / July/August 2021

The Paradox of Being a Leafs Fan

June 9, 2021June 15, 2021 - by Waubgeshig Rice

Generations of Indigenous fans have followed the Toronto Maple Leafs through close calls and decades of despair. Ultimately, it’s the hope that connects us

Illustration of a man surrounded by cannabis paraphernalia makes calculations on a clipboard.

Cannabis / July/August 2021

The Hazy Economy of Cannabis

June 7, 2021June 15, 2021 - by Alanna Mitchell

When Canada legalized recreational marijuana, a team of statisticians set out to decode how much exactly the weed business is worth