Exactly who is this Hanging Man? How did he end up in such a situation? And how is it that he chances to dream under such precarious circumstances? He is, in fact, only partly an invention of the poet's pen, partly a product of legends that echo through the northern hills of Georgia, and partly the stuff of whispered family history. What is known is precisely what is reported in these remarkable pages: that a man making his way home one evening is suddenly ambushed, lynched, in fact, for reasons unknown to him. Struggle proves futile as he is overwhelmed, tied up, hung from the branch of a tree, and left there to die. Because the Hanging Man in question was white and not black, the event would seem to have been motivated by something other than racial animosity. What ensues following this attack is a long horribly dark night of one man's terrorized, weeping, and dreaming soul.
(From the introduction by Aberjhani)
