From the Book - First edition.
How it came to be: "I lay my body down ..." --
For calling the spirit back from wandering the earth in its human feet --
"For any spark to make a song ..." --
Rabbit is up to tricks --
"Listened to an alto sax player ..." --
"Humans were created by mistake ..." --
Once the world was perfect --
"When I woke up from a forty-year sleep ..." --
"After years you realize ..." --
Entering the principality of O'ahu by sky roads --
"Each human is a complex, contradictory story ..." --
We were there when jazz was invented --
"This is only one of many worlds ..." --
"When I blow my horn ..." --
Beautiful baby, beautiful child. --
Part two. The wanderer: Talking with the sun --
"'One way to look at it, ' he told me ..." --
Spirit walking in the tundra --
"Where we lived, the settlers built their houses ..." --
"Let's not shame our eyes ..." --
"Midnight is a horn player ..." --
"When I walk over to join you in the two-step ..." -- Had-It-Up-to-Here Round Dance -- " 'Through these doors walk some of the finest ... ' " -- One Day There Will Be Horses -- "When I returned to my ancestral grounds ..." --
"Our Mvskoke new year is inherently ..." --
The first day without a mother. --
Part three. Visions and monsters: Falling, falling --
"Imagine if we natives went to the cemeteries ..." --
"This is the kitchen table university ..." --
Listening to blues in a fish joint, downtown Denver --
"I would do anything for you, baby ..." --
Indian school night song blues --
"Do not feed the monsters ..." --
"We all have helpers ..." --
This morning I pray for my enemies --
"Ah, but what about being ..." --
Conflict resolution for holy beings --
"The first horn I played ..." --
"And then I argued with myself ..." --
I am not ready to die yet --
"Whenever a saxophone begins ..." --
Report from the edge of a terrible regime --
"In one house lives the sun ..." --
From DFW Airport at dawn --
"What kept me going was that perfect song ..." --
The last world of fire and trash. --
Part four. The world: You can change the story, my spirit said to me as I sat near the sea --
"Those who could see into the future predicted the storm ..." --
"I knew there was no way ..." --
It's raining in Honolulu --
"The day went on as it always had ..." --
"Time is a being, like you, like me ..." --
"I thought of all the doors ..." --
"I returned to the city of country swing ..." --
"I heard a raven cry the blues ..." --
Everybody has heartache --
"Everyone comes into the world ..." --
"I keep thinking of my boyfriend ..." --
"My friend Sarita went visiting ..." --
"I confided in him the longing ..." --
"What are you doing there, soul ..." --