The Black Bird concerns itself not with the baring of a soul but with the stripping down of a life. It begins with the most remote extension of the human soul, one's public image. It begins with the mythic image of Humphrey Bogart. Bogart as a celebrity. Skin after skin is stripped away. Bogart as the character Sam Spade. Bogart as an actor. Bogart as a son and husband. Bogart as a man. The soul of Bogart. Until we reached beyond death to a final unravelling back to Bogart as a boy. A boyhood steeped in mythic reality. Originally published in 1982 by The Porcupine's Quill.