In the memory mines / Diane Ackerman -- How to pray: reverence, stories, and the Rebbe's dream / Ben Birnbaum -- The bone garden of desire / Charles Bowden -- Travels with R.L.S. / James Campbell -- Mail / Anne Fadiman -- The work of mourning / Francine du Plessix Gray -- Vin Laforge / Jeffrey Heiman -- Calliope Times / Edward Hoagland -- India's American imports / Adam Hochschild -- Refugium / Barbara Hurd -- On impact / Stephen King -- Blue machinery of summer / Yusef Komunyakaa -- The midnight tour / Marcus Laffey -- Facing the village / Lenore Look -- Book marks / Rebecca McClanahan -- Trouble in the tribe / Daphne Merkin -- Provincetown / David Michaelis -- Brain-cell memories / Spencer Nadler -- Dust / Mary Oliver -- Dear Harper : a letter to a godchild about God / Reynolds Price -- The fineness of things / Tim Robinson -- Cut time / Carlo Rotella -- Exquisite corpse / Ashraf Rushdy -- The last word / Earl Shorris -- On being breathless / Bert O. States -- Upside down and backward / William T. Vollman.