Refrain for Rental Boat #4
by Tim Bowling

October 2008 | Poetry | $100 CAN | $100 US
1554470676 | 9781554470679 | Limited Edition

This musical poem at once despairs and revels in a frustrating day from the author’s former life in the salmon-fishing industry on the Fraser River Delta. Bowling and his brother are set to head out on the river – it’s the perfect tide at the height of the run – but “Something is wrong with the Volvo prop!”

The text of this poem was hand composed in Goudy Old Style and printed on Mohawk Superfine paper. Jack McMaster’s illustrations combine letterpress printing with the lost twentieth-century colouring technique of pochoir, or painting through stencils.

This 12-page accordion-style book is trimmed to 8 × 8 inches and bound between boards covered in St. Armand handmade paper.

Author Biography

Tim Bowling is the author of seven poetry collections, including The Memory Orchard and Fathom (GP, 2006), which won the Alberta Book Award for poetry in 2007. Two of Bowling’s collections have also been shortlisted for the Governor General’s Award. He is the author of three novels, including The Bone Sharps (GP, 2007), which was nominated for the 2008 City of Edmonton Book Prize. He was recently awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship. Originally from Ladner, BC, Bowling now lives in Edmonton, Alberta.