The Lease

Inspired largely by the poet's experiences as a young man working in the Saskatchewan oilfields, Mathew Henderson's The Leaseexplores masculinity and the roles morality, violence, and hard labor play in it. Equal parts character study, cultural documentary, and coming-of-age narrative, Henderson's poems make it clear that however we may try to stay apart from them, the stubborn and often unflattering realities of masculine culture persist, not just in isolated, dangerous environments like this, but in our very idea of what work is. No mark survives this place: you too will yield to unmemory. Give everything you are in three-day pieces. Watch the gypsy iron move, follow its commands. Tend the rusted steel like a shepherd. Mathew Hendersonlives in Toronto, Ontario, writes about the prairies, and teaches at Humber College. The Leaseis his first collection of poetry.