We are all shaped by where we grow up, though that shaping takes different forms. I dont think theres any doubt that coming of age in Winnipeg both opened my eyes and made me hungry - if I can subvert all claims to be a real writer by mixing metaphors like that.

When I was 18 years old, in a more innocent time, my first backpacking trip through Europe, I sneaked into the Temple of Saturn in the Roman Forum after nightfall and spent several hours in there avoiding the guards patrolling.

Lazy poets try to elicit a reader's response with words designed to tug at the heart.

... everyone knew that all islands were worlds unto themselves, that to come to an island was to come to another world.

The military preferred - invariably - those who could be readily defined, assigned roles, understood, and controlled.

Irritation for some men was their response to strain.

What mortal knew the way their fate line would run?