Annick Smith's dog Bruno "rode shotgun" as Smith drove from Montana to the Midwest, visiting her ninety-seven-year-old mother in Chicago. That trip inspired a memoir featuring Bruno as a central character. Smith cites poet Mark Doty's thoughts on writing about animals: doing so is an attempt to "bring something of the inchoate into the world of the represented." The Pima chant, "Dog Song," begins at nightfall with a dog watching butterfly wings fall from the sky:
"Our songs begin at nightfall
when the wind blows from the south -
the wind is strong, bending my tail toward the north.
Butterfly wings begin to fall.
Butterfly wings are falling
that hurt me when they fall..."
(Broadcast: "Reflections West," 12/24/14. Listen weekly on the radio, Wednesdays at 3:00 p.m.)
