Four Directions

In Joseph Bruchac's Four Directions, the Manitou tells the whale, "I can change you / into an island of stone . . . you will not die / as the animals die / but wear slowly away / into waters / that love you." No transforming deity but one of our time's finest writers, Bruchac deeply and meaningfully renders the experience of bereavement and the experience of living our earthly destinies. The concluding poem, "Season's End," beautifully evokes our human effort to come to terms with mortality: "Wi…