Past the flannel plains and blacktop graphs and skylines…
““Past the flannel plains and blacktop graphs and skylines of canted rust, and past the tobacco-brown river overhung with weeping trees and coins of sunlight through them on the water downriver, to the place beyond the windbreak, where untilled fields simmer shrilly in the A.M. heat: shattercane, lambsquarter, cutgrass, saw brier, nutgrass, jimson-weed, wild mint, dandelion, foxtail, spinecabbage, goldenrod, creeping Charlie, butterprint, nightshade, ragweed, wild oat, vetch, butcher grass, invaginate volunteer beans, all heads nodding in a soft morning breeze like a mother’s hand on your check. An arrow of starlings fired from the windbreak’s thatch. The glitter of dew that stays where it is and steams all day. A Sunflower, four more one bowed, and horses in the distance standing rigid as toys. All nodding. Electric sounds of insects at their business. Ale-colored sunshine and pale sky and whorls of cirrus so high they cast no shadow. Insects all business all the time. Quartz and chert and schist and chondrite iron scabs in granite. Very old land. Look around you. The horizon trembling, shapeless. We are all of us brothers.””
About This Quote
This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.
A vivid, sensory description of a rural landscape, emphasizing interconnectedness of nature and humanity.
In simple terms: Nature and humanity are deeply linked in everyday scenes.
Key Takeaway
Notice the subtle ties between environment and self.
Themes
nature
interconnectedness
observation
detail
Mood
contemplative
poetic
Type
descriptive
philosophical
When to use this quote
- hiking
- writing
- environmental education
Key Concepts
ecology
perception
philosophy
Questions to Reflect On
- What does this view reveal about human perception of nature?
- How can we balance appreciation with realism?
A Different Perspective
The passage may romanticize rural life, overlooking hardships.