"As kingfishers catch fire, dragonflies draw flame; / [ . . . ] Each mortal thing does one thing and the same: / Deals out that being indoors each one dwells; / Selves -- goes itself; 'myself' it speaks and spells, / Crying 'What I do is me; for that I came'." --Gerard Manley Hopkins

06 April 2005

Home Thoughts

Between Goessel and Newton, we would pass a field of sunflowers on our way to church. They never failed to startle. Lifted to the rising sun, their faces reflected its brilliance, acre after acre of bold yellow stretching to the horizon under an intense azure sky, glossy red-winged blackbirds singing praise from their fencepost pews.

I miss Kansas.

4 comments:

amelia ruth said...

I sometimes feel that way about Wisconsin, though you wouldn't imagine that there could be anything good about Wisconsin. Something about the place you grow up, the place that no matter where you go will always be home for you. For me, it's the hills gently rolling away into the distance, the unending cornrows that I pass on my bikerides into the country, the softness of the landscape, the cows. The ordinary things, that most people wouldn't think twice about.

I love Tennessee but Wisconsin is home. So I know a little bit how you feel.

I must return to Walker Percy. Have a good day.
--Amy

Beth Impson said...

Amy, I hope you and Mr. Percy are getting along well! I love your description of your home. I do believe that something in the place we grow up makes us who we are, and no matter how much we might wish to get away from it when we are young, we are drawn back to it when we have grown wiser.

amelia ruth said...

Mr. Percy and I are not getting along terribly well, I'm afraid. Just not my style of writing, and I don't feel quite intellectual enough to say anything other than obvious comments in class discussion. So I will be happy to say my final farewell to Percy and move into something that's a little less over-my-head. Like Flannery O'Connor, who, by the way, has claim on the next two hours of my life for a paper I must write.

Now that I've completely diverged from the original topic . . . .

--amy

amelia ruth said...

I'm done with the Flannery paper (besides revising. I promise I'll revise!), and I've grown very attached to it in the process of writing it. I hope I can steel myself for the approach of the heinous red pen!

Anyway, sorry to steal your blog like this for my own schemes. But what can I say? You haven't posted since yesterday. What am I to do besides post all of my own thoughts in the meanwhile?

Thanks so much for your advice on dangerous subjects like schedules (gasp!); I surely do appreciate it (and will probably appreciate it more when I'm a senior and realize how much I should have taken more of your advice!).

I eagerly await your next post (and believe me, I check back often!).

--amy

Followers