A helicopter falls when it loses its Jesus Nut. A monkey trap holds only what greed refuses to release. A Tea Rose ignores winter's grip and opens anyway, then spends its days raining petals. Bill Stokes has spent a lifetime watching. He has stood at the bedside of memory as it slips away. He has walked the rows of veterans' graves, coin in hand. He has felt the rear-end collision that came from choosing a child's life over his own spine. He has listened to the trees. Furthermore: The Collected Wisdom of a Keeper of Words is what a Wisdom Keeper does when he finally writes it all down - not to explain the human condition, but to hand it to you so you can feel the weight of it yourself.
