Seymour Polatkin
A seemingly normal person living in Spokane, Seymour is most passionate about his poetry which tells of his personal journey of coming to peace with his homosexuality, his personal past with intimate relationships, and his many intellectual associations about life. He is also Native American by ethnicity, and he has an entire personal history at his home reservation, but he rarely talks about that. That is the aspect of his personal history that even the professional poet is not sure how to approach.
Mouse
Mouse is a friend of Seymour's from the reservation. Mouse and Seymour were very good friends who knew each other quite well, but one day, Seymour learns that his friend has died. This warrants a return trip to the reservation in Washington where he has to mourn the past, mourning his conservative community, their rejection, the pain of his identity—all while being rejected socially by those who used to be his friends before he came out as gay.
