The cover design is based upon Mayan figures. -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.

The poems are based on lists of names in the Aramaic writings of the Jews of Elephantine, Egypt. There is also an essay about the Elephantine Jews, an island in the Nile river at Egypt's southern border who lived in that place in the fifth century B.C. -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.

The five poems that make up the text are based upon Japanese ghost stories told by Lafcadio Hearn in his book, "Kwaiden." The book has an unusual construction in that the sleeve pages are to be opened from their sides to reveal continuation of the poem printed on the recto sides of the pages. In the introduction, Young writes, "...I make use of the three-dimensional pages: pages with insides and outsides... I hope that each reader will bring his or her own senses of inside and outside to the reading of this book. I should, however, point out that the insides and outsides interact with each other in various ways, primarily by paralleling or working against each other. The inside-outside tension should not only create a dialectical progression, but constantly turn the book on on itself and out to the reader." -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.

Manuscript is accompanied by a letter written in German by Brown dated June 11, 1976 explaining his method of interpreting Christian Morgenstern's "Fisches Nachtgesang." -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.