[…] Their owners inside for hours, forgetting as well
as they can the miles, the circling plains, the still town
that connects to nothing but cold and space and a few
stray ribbons of pavement, icy guides to nothing
but bigger towns and other taverns that glitter and wait […]
The narrator of this poem reflects upon the truckers who stop for a bite to eat or a quick nape in the sleepy stretch of land from Denver, Colorado to Cheyenne, Wyoming. He suggests that truckers may be using their time to forget both the miles they have driven and the miles they still need to drive. In this quotation, the narrator captures the beauty in this vast stench of land. Even though there is little else here than snow and parked trucks, it is a peaceful stretch of land where drivers can gather and revel in the peace and company.
In the last year of her life
she had to keep her friends from knowing
how happy they were.
This stanza characterizes Bess as a selfless and self-sacrificing individual. At the beginning of the poem, we learn that Bess was unexpectedly diagnosed with cancer. Despite her diagnosis, however, Bess chooses to keep her sorrow and anguish to herself; she does not wish to burden her friends and loved ones with the knowledge that she is dying. In this quotation, the narrator concludes that Bess did not tell those individuals that she was close to about her diagnosis because she wanted them to remain happy and unbothered. Despite the fact that this must have been incredibly difficult for Bess, she puts her friends’ peace and happiness above her own and is therefore characterized as a remarkably altruistic person.
We would come at daylight and find the line sag,
the fishbelly gleam and the rush on the tether:
to feel the swerve and the deep current
which tugged at the tree roots below the river.
The narrator of this poem speaks to the unique trouble facing trawlers and fishermen when the catfish roam the seas at night. Here, the narrator explains that, after the catfish have finished trawling the sea beds at night, the fishermen would return in the morning to find their fishing lines damaged and sagging. In this way, the narrator suggests that the catfish are rather destructive and, as such, the fishermen do not enjoy when the current brings them to their fishing sites.
Pain moved where she moved. She walked
ahead; it came. She hid; it found her.
In this quotation, the narrator shares Bess’ pain with the reader. He or she wants the readers to understand the extent to which Bess suffered in her last year. The narrator describes this pain as inescapable. No matter what Bess did to stave it off, it still came and followed her. In this way, Bess’ earlier actions—of giving so selflessly of herself—are made even more pronounced and remarkable.
