| Montana by Anthony Rain Starez |
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| Oh Montana, I
see you in my mind and hear your silence in my head. In a city in Florida, I live, yet you
take me away when I let you. In my swollen World of too many people I feel stomped on.
Daily, herds of humans like cattle blindly run nowhere.....cars, traffic lights, apartment
buildings, malls, bars, hotels, signs and buildings make it impossible to see more than a
few feet away. An hour here is not an hour in Montana. Here, the horizon is cut short
forcing the Sun to set long before it really should, and rise late. All around the
monuments of man are small patches of grass that so eloquently trim the concrete and
asphalt that covers up the earth. Nature is an ornament on the hood of a Crysler...just a
token, really! When animals become over populated for an area, they disperse, move on or some die. Not so with man. We'll find a way to live on top of each other. We'll make room. Animals have been shoved out of the frame, and out of the picture each time a field is paved over or an acre of woods is sold for a community to be built. They run for cover, always finding their way to our roadways, only to be slaughtered by trucks and cars. But oh Montana, your big sky provides enough air for animals to inhale, while us humans exhale. Even the little displaced raccoon that used to come to the back porch every night for eggs and water has disappeared. My mother loved that little coon, and watched for her every night. There's no place for wild animals in my little part of the World, and I guess I knew all along something would happen to that little coon eventually. Oh man, just give me Montana - a place I've never even been. A place where people speak clearly, and think without a stopwatch. And animals don't run frightened. God's country, some say, where the heart is said to grow. |
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When I see pictures or movies of Montana my thoughts slow down...but I know deep down I'll never see that piece of myself. I've grown old, and my body doesn't operate the way it should because of an injury. Rugged and wild, Montana is not for the fragile. Still, just knowing that it exists may be enough. |
| In my mind I
can leave where I'm physically at....in my mind I can see the rolling green hills, hear
the clear running streams, stare at the hypnotic dirt roads that seem to run forever...in
my mind it's Montana that makes me see things differently, including myself. I'm convinced
there's an undiscovered me in Montana. If only I could find him, he'd be on a horse riding
in the mountains. Or fly fishing in a stream. Or working hard on a ranch. A man desperate
man, no more! Buscando la paz...en Montana! The idea of less people around could become lonely for a man so addicted to his gadgets as me, and I secretly wonder if I'd be running back to the city after a short while like a kid who ran away from home. The thought intrigues me. |
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I remember as
a child visiting farms....a farm is like it's own little World, thousands of places to
hide and explore. The animals live with you. Ever ride a horse out into a large pasture?? It's a remarkable feeling of being alone and yet embraced by the Earth...your horse becomes a part of you. You, the horse. Oh Montana, where are you? |