Short stories filled with heartbreak, stench, suicide, death, and ancient photographs. Life is never how life should be. Conklin - a poet and mechanic - lives the Albertan life. "If one must make it, one must not sleep." His passion is poetry and works in a garage to not compromise his poetry. His poetry becomes popular and is able to retire from the garage. In The Dying of a Poet, Conklin, now retired, drinks himself into an abusive mind state, and loses his wife at the closing of his life. A respected man professionally, is not always respected in his personal life. Many of the stories are merely glimpses into every day life. Nothing changes. Life is full of heartbreak and loneliness and unfair circumstances, and the will to end ones own life, for some, is far stronger than the will to save their life for someone else.