THE SEABIRDS ARE STILL ALIVE

This is not the sassy tomboy of Gorilla, My Love (1972) but more mature, committed folks, moving politically or just reflecting on bluejays (""law-and-order birds""). Often the War or the Movement is part of the scene and the difficulties of the struggle are evident, whether the dread ambivalence of ""The Organizer's Wife"" or the intrepidity of the sunny revolutionary in ""Am I Spoilin' Ya?"" The men, for the most part, are less attractive although ""the father thing"" is finely etched in ""A Tender Man."" But the women are a steadfast lot, a distinctive tribe of sensibilities and strong persuasions. There's the gambler's manicurist in ""Medley,"" temporarily hanging out with a bassist whose best work is done in the shower, and the exhausted community worker battling a snowstorm with kids in tow, ruminating on the idiocies of project architecture and the ethics of stealing (""Broken Field Running""). And in ""Christmas Eve at Johnson's Drugs N' Goods,"" a young employee muses on the whereabouts of her parents as two potted ladies match wits with the chemist selling condoms. Ten stories in all, from a deft, genial hand.