This is so visual, and I understand it completely. I think we just know what we know and learn to live with it. I live at the end of a valley and feel like I'm protected and safe. Great words!!

This is amazing! You have an incredible way with words. And you are absolutely right...living in a city that is itself smack dab in the middle of flat land does do something strange to people. I didn't realize that until going to Prague, which is in a valley. Flat land does allow anything to come up on you from any direction. I agree with Marilyn too...this is intensely visual and visceral as well. Great work.

You have a nice way with words Tara. I am a geographer but I would have never thought of putting it in words like yours!

Really enjoyed it Tara...good work!

Mmmmmm - You've got me thinking here my friend! What a wonderful piece of prose... I would rather discuss my thoughts with you in person! I love this... jy is die beste :)

your thoughts are interesting maybe this is why I like the hills and the sea, but don't forget Hannibal sneaked in over the mountains.

Marvellous! you have expressed perfectly what I have always felt, but never expressed in any art form, although I've often talked about it. (As in ...'couldn't live there','how ghastly', etc)

Another fine auntietk piece. So clear, so to the point, so direct. What you see is what you get. This is a great beginning. I know the picture of which you speak:-). When I say a beginning,...I mean for me, because as I think of the geography that may have molded me, I've lived in all sorts of geography...a long, narrow, flat island surrounded by ocean, low-country between two mighty rivers bumped up against the sea, eastern mountains of the worn out, rounded off type, western mountains of the young, jagged type, high, arid desert and low, humid, tropical jungle. So, I ask myself...just what influence has all this really had on me? I don't know. I'll have to think about it. A great thought piece.

nice!!

great work!

A most beautiful poem; infused with heart and a true understanding of the way things seem to be for many of us. I think your words hit home, and I really like the title; especially the way in which you've combined the literal with the more figurative... a deeper meaning, entwined with something as concrete and definitive as "Geography"; a physical land. Excellent ending as well-- makes one wonder if it's all worth it... Great inspiration Tara!

Wonderful words! very moving!

makes me wonder wonderful work, Tara May warm hug and love, Linda Kaye

Excellent work !

perfect!

You hit the nail right on the head, having lived in open flat landness, while not of my choice but of my parents, I can tell you I did not like it one bit. It was way to empty looking for me. Yes there where buildings, but no hills, valleys, or lakes. One reason I like Wisconsin, because it is not flat by any means. Our mountains maybe small and not many, but we have mountains. Our hills roll through the country side, and our valleys and lakes are numerous. Most excellent work!

WOW!! And so thought provoking. Aren't we all mostly products of our environment? Wisconsin is not flat by any means, but when placed in comparison by those that hail from the mountains regions, what we have would be considered incredibly lacking. I've known people that moved here from the Los Angeles area, that couldn't sleep at night because it was so quiet, no constant sirens and gunshots, and others that moved here from very small towns, unable to sleep because of the noise. Sorry,..didn't mean to ramble. The answer to the question you pose at the end is yes! Probably to both.

you write so wonderfully ! amazing

A lovely poem and in a flat area you do get a sense of space which is missing in the hills.

You certainly have a way with words Tara! it's very thought provoking!

Tara, this is so thought provoking. i have spent the entirety of my life feeling as if I was in the WRONG place... ...But I have never moved. I still live in the same town that I grew up in. Essex is such a mismatch of ideas and styles, the landscape so variable, maybe thats why- its unsettling... Definitely food for thought......

Great writing....some people move away...but most of the time they come back and me I just moved 40 miles from my home town.

I love this art work

well I'm from the city that Bill caught in those wonderful shots, and I was born here, and your poem not only asks all the questions that thrive inside us midwesterners—whether we verbalize them or not—but is written in your usual gentle 'breaths' (such nice line divisions..."I wonder about/Boundaries/And people/Sneaking up/From all directions"..."With no feature/To stop my eye/Endless vistas/Stretching out forever/I am lost..." Very haiku like, giving each phrase the stature of an 'object'—it's always been one of your strengths.) As to the larger view; definitely we're all shaped by where we come from, and you evoke that question in everyone here. Also, your specific view—the difference between flat/open land and hilly/mountainous land: I feel exactly what you write, becuase I've been in a lot of flat areas since I was a child. But know also that I was surrounded by forests & bluffs & always near the Lake (in the burbs) with big bluffs and thick ravines...and while those are small compared to the majesty of your area, they at least broke up the 'flatness'. Also, before this area was domesticized, there were massive tracts of prairie grass which stood way high; so when you walked you weren't so much exposed as 'surrounded'. Point being that even flat areas can have lots of variation. (Cheri & Dave talk about that of Wisconsin...) Beautifully posed, beautifully written, and in your usual simplicity of voice. Fine piece Tara. (I'll stop here for now...want to get to other galleries, but I'll be back for more in the next day or two.)

Fantastic poem, excellent work!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!