Sitting on the back patio, birds singing all around us, Andrea tells the story again about the blue heron she saw perched atop the redwood tree nearby and says something about the “audacity of birds,” and the phrase just sort of hovers there in that space.

“The Audacity of Birds,” I say, “is my new favorite band,” which is my way of saying how much I appreciate the weight and possibility in such a turn of phrase, which is a way of recognizing how language captivates me, which is a way of expressing how words turn tumblers in the locks of my brain, which is a way of already acknowledging how I’ll turn those words over and over in my head for days afterward until something spills out:

The Audacity of Birds released a new offering

The Audacity of Birds plays folksy jam-band rock.

The Audacity of Birds plays songs that are seven-minutes long.

The Audacity of Birds could be called a debut YA novel with a twist

The Audacity of Birds’ lead singer is named Shawl

The Audacity of Birds’ main character is named Leonthy

The Audacity of Birds burst onto the scene as a critically acclaimed first book of lyric essays

The Audacity of Birds opened up for The Donkeys on their latest tour

The Audacity of Birds is actually just one guy, Shawl. He plays all instruments, kind of like Prince

The Audacity of Birds sets the story in Portland, Oregon and Nashville, Tennessee

The Audacity of Birds organizes chapters according to phylum

The Audacity of Birds’ antagonist is a repressed raven named Gary

The Audacity of Birds exclusively uses the Latin names for birds

The Audacity of Birds has a lot of footnotes

The Audacity of Birds plays on a stage with big Turkish rugs and floor lamps

The Audacity of Birds includes woodcut prints of birds by the author’s partner

The Audacity of Birds recently started a podcast for children

The Audacity of Birds was invited to be on Jimmy Kimmel once but got bumped

The Audacity of Birds tours with a guy who combines stand-up comedy and tuba solos

The Audacity of Birds features some great blurbs from writers you recognize

The Audacity of Birds was written by the bass player for another band called Everything Bagel

The Audacity of Birds has the best merch

The Audacity of Birds doesn’t like to give interviews

The Audacity of Birds cancelled their book tour

The Audacity of Birds only plays 18-and-over shows because they appreciate youth

The Audacity of Birds is mostly about colonialism and flying

The Audacity of Birds wakes me up some mornings

The Audacity of Birds is doing concerts in their living room

The Audacity of Birds has been called a contemporary parable for our current predicament

The Audacity of Birds sometimes puts me to sleep before my daughter

The Audacity of Birds’ lead singer, Shawl, has his own line of cardigan sweaters

The Audacity of Birds often features puppets in public performances

The Audacity of Birds is very very grey

The Audacity of Birds sounds better in the mornings

The Audacity of Birds includes a lot of maps

The Audacity of Birds can be overwhelming in the rain

The Audacity of Birds is not about birds or audacity

The Audacity of Birds is about us

The Audacity of Birds is a book-length essay about essaying

The Audacity of Birds is a novel about novelty

The Audacity of Birds recorded an album covering their own songs

The Audacity of Birds wrote this list