The State of Old Lines

This collection of poems describes a small group of friends whose love and mistrust grows for each other in equal measures as their adolescent loyalty is tested by the stresses and growth of maturation. Glittery language deep with rhymes draws out each individual in a stark portrait, placing them in a deeply emotional and loosely narrative extended cycle of poetry.Lester Tibbett has to leave his farm in Southern Alberta for the big city. It means starting over in an unfamiliar environment - a heavy burden for the guardian of a teenage sister full of angst. The apartment complex to which they relocate is a far cry from their spacious farmhouse and offers little anonymity for a man used to doing things his own way. During the process, he pushes his own loneliness aside in favour of looking after his sister. As Lester struggles to find a church that will meet both their spiritual needs, he quickly learns that neighbours come in many forms, some of them quite meddlesome. Still, he is happy to accept help from an overtly friendly neighbour named Jed who also happens to work for the same construction company. The two soon become friends, despite Jed’s habit of trying to set Lester up with every available single female, and end up frequenting a local pub where Lester is surprised to discover an ‘old school’ mechanical bull just waiting to be ridden. The former rodeo cowboy in him rises up, but not before he meets a mysterious woman who is out of his reach.