Terry Tempest Williams/ Elizabeth Bishop

In the story of "Yellowstone: The Erotics of Place" Terry Tempest Williams provides the reader with a very vivid opening that sets the tone for the entire story. The description of darkening skies, raging rivers, surging geysers, and stampeding hooves immediately takes the reader to the beauty of Yellowstone. Williams then takes the reader into the "echo system" which is a very clever way of describing the relationship Williams feels people need to share with the ecosystem. In addition, the repitition of "Pansexual. Of Pan" was a different way of describing the wildlife, forest, and landscape. Williams personifies the ecosystem as "erotic" which is a unique angle when describing nature but at the same time shows the compassion that "we" need to have for the ecosystem.

In "Redemption" the author keeps things short and sweet. The first paragraph leaves you "opened" and wondering how someone can walk toward a wild coyote. But as the second paragraph starts, the story turns completely around by stating the condition of the dead coyote. The author quickly kills the anticipation and anxiousness and leaves the reader to only wonder.

The author in the story "Undressing the Bear" again leaves one "opened" and guessing. The man stationed in Italy during World War 11 comes home to Wyoming for the hunting season and is successful in killing a black bear. As the story ends, the man is left shaking. Is he shaking with excitement because of the long hiatus from hunting or is it more deeper then that? Is it because he is tired of killing and the death of the bear only brings back horrifying memories that he left over seas? The author does a wonderful job of engaging the reader in only so few sentences.

In Elizabth Bishop's poem "The Fish" she describes the amazing catch she has just reeled in with great detail like "his brown skin hung in strips like ancient wallpaper" and "he was speckled with barnacles, fine rosettes of lime, and infested with tiny whit sea lice." I particulaly like the fact that Bishop notices the history of the fish when admiring the jaw. It was interesting that the fish was still there...that everyone before her had let the fish go. I found it to be gratifying that she does not have the need to take a picture or scream for bragging purposes. She simply embraces the moment and lets the fish go. She found all her satisfaction by just catching a glimpse of nature's beauty.