James A. Bird

“This is how, one sunrise, we cut down them canoes.”
Philoctete smiles for the tourists, who try taking
his soul with their cameras. “Once wind bring the news … ”
—Derek Walcott, “Omeros”

The writer was born in the middle of the twentieth century, CE. There was his endless War to Be Somebody, supplemented by drugs and rock’n’roll, the long journey home through a high desert Idaho classroom, followed by years of writing in his attic study. He has few writing credits.