Where the past begins: a writer's memoir

Prologue. The breaker of combs

I. Imagination

A leaky imagination

Music as muse

Souvenir from a dream

Hidden genius

Reorientation: Homer, Alaska

II. Memory in emotion

Genuine emotions

The feeling of what it felt like when it happened

A mere mortal at age twenty-five

A mere mortal at age twenty-six

How to change fate: step 1

III. Retrieving the past

The unfurling of leaves

The auntie of the woman who lost her mind

Unstoppable

Time and distance: age twenty-four

Time and distance: age fifty

Time and distance: age sixty

IV. Unknown endings

The darkest moment of my life

Nipping dog

The father I did not know

Reliable witness

V. Reading and writing

I am the author of this novel

How I learned to read

Splayed poem: the road

Eidolons

Letters to the editor

Letters in English

Why write?

VI. Language

Language: a love story

Intestinal fortitude

Principles of linguistics

Companions in the house.