Describing the title of his collection of poetry and occasional prose pieces, Gary Snyder writes in his introductory note that is "The old/new name for the continent, based on many creation myths of the people who have b...Describing the title of his collection of poetry and occasional prose pieces, Gary Snyder writes in his introductory note that is "The old/new name for the continent, based on many creation myths of the people who have been here for millennia, and reapplied by some of them to 'north America' in recent years." The nearly five dozen poems in the book range from the lucid, lyrical, almost mystical to the mytho-biotic, while a few are frankly political.