American history, particularly following the Stonewall uprising, brought to the forefront of our collective consciousness a new and liberating image of gay men and lesbians, no longer content to cower in closets, perpetuating the pitiful caricatures society had relegated us to. These stories and verses are just one person's fictional, real, or a little of both accounts of life as a gay man through those times. Will Sam Coyle ever realize his dream of living alone in the mountains, depending only on Mother Earth to survive? Can ex-cop Merl Edward "Big Ed" Purdy ever find peace in Willow Creek, with Drogan just across the street? Is the "Charney kid" happy he took up with the town queer? If we lose everything, will family still welcome us home? How could Harley's picture of a white buck end up with a stranger? There is a continuum in our lives that we cannot ignore. Had the lost boys never reckoned the simple gift of a tree?