Whatever else prairie is—grass, sky, wind—
it is most of all a paradigm of infinity,
a clearing full of many things except boundaries,
and its power comes from its apparent limitlessness;
there is no such thing as a small prairie
any more than there is a little ocean,
and the consequence of both is this challenge:
try to take yourself seriously out here,
you bipedal plodder, you complacent cartoon.
William Least Heat-Moon, PrairyErth
