Angeline O'Neill has made the 2018 CBC Poetry Prize longlist for The Town Game.

You won't know Angeline's hometown, but it's close to Peterborough, Ont. She grew up on a farm, but found herself drawn to the west and the Rocky Mountains of Alberta. She currently lives in Canmore with her francophone husband, two bilingual children, two cats and a puppy named Mystic. When she's not writing, you can find her out running wild and free in her obscenely beautiful backyard.

We are all from somewhere.

"Upon arrival in the west, I was made aware that many Easterners play the town game. When asked where we are from, we start with a 'do you know (insert large city here)?' and work our way smaller in population, until just before our subject loses interest. Five months ago I received a Facebook message from my friend Joey in Saskatoon who sniffed out the start of the town game at a party. He actually stopped the guy from playing and demanded to know the name of his actual town. Joey discovered too quickly that Jeff is from the next smallest town from mine! That inspired me to dig out the skeleton of this poem and finally finish it. It's all part of the game!"

The winner of the 2018 CBC Poetry Prize will receive $6,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts, will have their work published on CBC Books and will have the opportunity to attend a writing residency at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. Four finalists will each receive $1,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts and have their work published on CBC Books.