Carter Revard's newest collection, From the Extinct Volcano, A Bird of Paradise, sings through poetry and prose "to celebrate our creatural selves." Revard draws from a lifetime of experience that started on the Osage reservation during the Depression era and has continued through his role as a distinguished student, teacher, scholar, and poet. In this book, he illustrates how culture, which is not restricted to the human species, has survived through the practice of singing. In showing us this, Revard skillfully blends narratives of nonhuman animal behavior, scientific studies on the nature of language, and literary allusions. From the Extinct Volcano, A Bird of Paradise demonstrates how survival ultimately depends on song.