In his debut collection, Seattle poet Richard Wells condenses a lifetime of experience into a warm embrace of friendship and spirit. From his Polish Catholic upbringing, through the turbulent and joyful awakenings of the 1960's, and his latter day embrace of the "sweet science," Wells asks, "how do we rise above the heartbreak of being?" He answers with generosity and wonder, opening himself to the power of language to shape the world, and heal it as well. With a blend of prose and poems, Wells journeys to Mexico, India, and back to his home in the Pacific Northwest, where we "listen to the rain/Listen to the throat of thunder."