In Milton’s Paradise Lost, Satan first peers into Eden from the top of the Tree of Life. Perched in the form of a cormorant, he spies a pair of unfamiliar creatures, both innocent and beautiful. (Artisanally crafted with love in every limb.) Jealousy engulfs the fallen angel, and he knows in that moment he will stop at nothing to corrupt God’s pet project—Mankind. After some slithering and a long walk of shame, he is ultimately successful. Adam and Eve are fallen, tainted and free. Like the eponymous bird, Cormorant is deeply connected with the human story post-exile: our fraught relationships, … Continue reading The Porcelain Throne – Cormorant (Or: Creatures of Other Mould, Part 1)