The pieces in this volume of free verse poetry describe the on-going conflict between Native Americans and the new comers from the time of Columbus to the terrorists of 9/ll. Charles Ray is enrolled in The Lost Cherokee Nation and possesses a unique point of view among American poets and novelists. He expresses the past and the present, and voices a deep respect and personal connectedness to the natural. He has been reluctantly employed as a college professor, high school teacher, farm hand, saw mill worker, and construction laborer. He graduated from Brevard College, Western Carolina University, and Appalachian State University. He holds the Doctor of Arts degree in English from Middle Tennessee State University. Charles Ray's highly original novels are THE TARHEEL CONNECTION; AN ENVIRONMENTAL ROMANCE and LANCE; A CHILD'S GARDEN OF EVIL. He raises black and tan tree hounds, two of them serving as models for the hounds in THE TARHEEL CONNECTION. Charles Ray lives in the Ozark Mountains near Belleville, Arkansas.