Contents
The Coat is Thin

West Of Time Is Place

The Language of Water · 13
Before Warning Signs Went up at Mill Lake · 17
An Afternoon at Cultus Lake in Raspberry Season · 19
Stars West of Williams Lake · 20
Tornado Warning in West Lafayette · 23
Standing in Line with Headset at the Monet Exhibit · 25
Spring Training: Dreaming with Yogi · 26
Salt Lick near Kicking Horse Pass · 29
Visitors’ Guide, Crystal Cathedral · 30
Vigilance · 31
Mammoth Dig near Orla, Texas · 32
The First Clearcut on Vedder Mountain · 33

The Coat Is Thin

Prose Poem for Uncle Petya, AWOL from the White Army · 37
Two Excerpts from “Songs of Aron” · 40
Yarrow Was Once a Mennonite Town · 42
A Mennonite Short Story Writer on the Second Anniversary of His Death · 44
Why Passing Our Stories on Is More Than Addition: A Verse Essay · 46
Woman and Clarinet, Sunday Morning · 53
Passing · 55

The Cold War And After

Corkscrew Willow: A Prose Poem · 65
Parking at the Universität Erlangen · 68
Mojo Magic and Shortwave · 70
Where We Find Ourselves
Halloween · 83
Exchanges Among Elders · 84
The Thesis on Plagiarism · 89
Parable · 92
Out of Print Before Retirement · 93
Annunciation · 95

The Author 97