Table of Contents

Foreword
Introduction

DEATH VALLEY VISION FAST
MY FATHER & MY MOTHER
WAITING SUPPER SOUTH OF FALLON
MAKING CONNECTIONS
WAR STORIES
ORIENTATION AT BIEN HOA
ROVING AMBUSH
WAR’S A JOKE
LAMENT FOR VO VANH THOM
THE ROLLER-COASTER
NEW TESTAMENT
NOTES FOR A LOVELETTER
NOTHING SURPRISES YOUR TRUE INTELLECTUAL
THE FUNCTION OF MODERN POETRY
DAYS I DON’T REMEMBER
THE SAXOPHONE
GUSTAV MAHLER IN AMSTERDAM, 1910
THE TRANSLATOR
THREE VARIATIONS
WINTER IN BUCKS COUNTY
THE MISTAKE
PATIENT
LONG DISTANCE
THE WATCH
A JIG FOR MY WAKE
I FIND MY FRIENDS
THE WOMAN WHO LOVES THE 18TH CENTURY
ELEGY FOR ROBERT CHAMBERLAIN
DEAR MONICA
PARABLE OF THE BAD SHEPHERD
THE FIRST YEAR MY EARNINGS WILL EXCEED MY FATHER’S
ICU
XMAS IN BROOKLYN, 1982
EPITHALAMION
THE PAIN
LEARNING THE LANGUAGE
EATING LEFTOVERS ON NANTUCKET
THE SOUND OF AIR OVER WINGS
FIVE TASKS TAUGHT BY HOSPICE NURSES
MEDITATION LESSON IN THE PAYS d’OC
MILLENNIUM FIRE
THREE FROM UPAYA ZEN CENTER   58  GRIEF WORK
DYING FOR BEGINNERS
MEMORIAL DAY

Afterword: Origins of the Earwax Patrol