One long river of song : notes on wonder / Brian Doyle ; foreword by David James Duncan.

A mystical project born of joy and desperation / Foreword by David James Duncan -- 1. That the small is huge, that the tiny is vast, that pain is part and parcel of the gift of joy, and that this is love. Joyas Voladoras ; A shrew ; Tigers ; Leap ; Two hearts ; The deceased ; Eating dirt ; The anchoviad ; Illuminos -- 2. There was a kid who was and isn't but is. Times tables ; My devils ; We did ; The sea ; Catch ; The meterorites ; First kiss ; Silence ; The final frontier ; Jones beach ; The wonder of the look on her face ; Teh old typewriter in the basement ; The old Methodist Church no Vashon Island -- 3. We can take off our masks, or, if we can't do that, we can squawk through the holes in them. A squawk is better than nothing. Testimonio ; Mea Culpa ; Yes ; Brian Doyle interviews Brian Doyle ; Pants: a note ; 20 things the dog ate ; The Daoine Sidhe ; Angeline ; The way we do not say what we mean when we say what we say ; On not "beating" cancer ; The hawk ; The praying mantis moment -- 4. This blistering perfect terrible world. Heartchitecture ; The greatest nature essay ever ; The creature beyond the mountains ; Hoop ; Our daily murder ; Because it's hard ; Irreconcilable dissonance ; Lost Dog Creek ; Raptorous ; An Leabharlann ; The bullet ; Fishering ; Tyee ; Everyone thinks that awful comes by itself, but it doesn't ; The four gospels ; God -- 5. We are better than we think. Clairtonica ; Dawn and Mary ; His last game ; Memorial Day ; 100th Street ; God again ; Beer with Peter ; The lair ; A song for nurses ; Cool things ; Address unknown ; Hawk words ; Bird to bird ; To the beach -- 6. I walked out so full of hope I'm sure I spilled some by the door. Chessay ; Lines hatched on the back porch of Eudora Welty's house in Jackson, Mississippi ; Joey's doll's other arm ; The room in the firehouse ; Selections from letters and comments on my writing Billy Blake's trial ; On all souls day ; Two anesthesiologists ; Joey ; A prayer for you and yours ; His listening ; His weirdness ; The tender next minute ; His holiness the Dali Lama, manifestation of Chenrezig, Bodhisattva of compassion, stops the car along the road to watch children play soccer ; Two on two ; What were once pebbles are now cliffs ; Last prayer ; Gratias Vobis Ago.

"When Brian Doyle passed away at the age of sixty after a bout with brain cancer, he left behind a cult-like following of devoted readers who regard his writing as one of the best-kept secrets of the twenty-first century. Doyle writes with a delightful sense of wonder about the sanctity of everyday things, and about love and connection in all their forms: spiritual love, brotherly love, romantic love, and even the love of a nine-foot sturgeon...David James Duncan sums up Doyle's sensibilities best in his introduction to the collection: 'Brian Doyle lived the pleasure of bearing daily witness to quiet glories hidden in people, places and creatures of little or no size, renown, or commercial value, and he brought inimitably playful or soaring or aching or heartfelt language to his tellings.' A life's work, One Long River of Song invites readers to experience joy and wonder in ordinary moments that become, under Doyle's rapturous and exuberant gaze, extraordinary."--Dust jacket.