California is burning!" The searing drought of 1976-77 is the backdrop to this poem cycle. Famine marked on a calendar of feasts humbles human, plant, and beast between twin tensions (loss and menace), twin attractions (desire and death). In an "invasion of awe" before the inexorable "vulturine horde," Everson witnesses a wildfire of tooth, claw, and "accidental" holocaust. The graceful, the innocent, the vicious, or the strong---All are prey: "We think of the snake.../ lurking, the vibration of evil, / Coiling." Which is mask? Which is real? The evil coiled and ready? Or the "flush and shimmering splendor of life?" Everson's lyrics envision the contradictions, losing none of the beauty, dread, or demonic power and vengeance. Everson is also known as Brother Antonius.