For Calling the Spirit Back from Wandering the Earth in Its Human Feet
“For any spark to make a song . . .”
“Listened to an alto sax player . . .”
“Humans were created by mistake . . .”
“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 . . .”
Beautiful Baby, Beautiful Child
“ ‘One way to look at it,’ he told me . . .”
“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 . . .”
“ ‘Through these doors walk some of the finest . . .’ ”
“When I returned to my ancestral grounds . . .”
“Our Mvskoke new year is inherently . . .”
The First Day Without a Mother
PART THREE: Visions and Monsters
“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 . . .”
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 . . .”
“Whenever a saxophone begins . . .”
Report from the Edge of a Terrible Regime
“In one house lives the sun . . .”
“What kept me going was that perfect song . . .”
The Last World of Fire and Trash
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 . . .”
“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 . . .”
“Everyone comes into the world . . .”
“I keep thinking of my boyfriend . . .”
“My friend Sarita went visiting . . .”
“I confided in him the longing . . .”