The Chilkat Dancing Blanket is the life story of a magnificent woven robe which graced the shoulders of Indian nobility from Yakutat, Alaska to Vancouver Island, British Columbia. From the legendary origins of this weaving, the story unfolds to tell of the women who wove it, of the source and inspiration for the designs which adorn it, and of the pride and esteem in which it was held by the society which gave it birth. The Dancing Blanket was a robe reserved for ceremony. The remarkable photographs of Tony Hunt performing the Headdress Dance afford a rare opportunity to see this blanket in...

Like Whitman's, Holm's poems celebrate the vitality of life--whether found in music or food or people. Moving across the surface of contemporary America and the world, from Oregon forests to the deserts around Tuscon, from the endless marketing of phones to the experience of an MRI, Holm comments with humor, biting commentary, and ultimately affection on the waywardness of the human race. The book includes tributes to Art Tatum, Glenn Gould, and many classical composers, as well as poems of the moment--marking the falling of the Twin Towers or the death of Paul Wellstone. The first section of...