A Prairie Home Companion from American Public Media: First Person

Keep Pace with the Earth
By Rick Conner
Email: rconnor1 at msn dot com
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August 28, 2008

I grew up in a house behind the county jail. Whistles and bells—in sync with the rising, arc, and setting of the sun— measured the convicts? coming and going, and punctuated our day as well. I watched their activities change with the season. The jailbirds planted their garden in spring, according to the moon. The summer months were full of cheering and jeers heard over the clang of horseshoes played after lunch in the cool shade of Dutch Elms. In the early dark of autumn we crawled under the bobbed-wire fence to steal jail-house pumpkins. The winter was cold and silent, except when it snowed. The snowball fights were wicked.

When I was seven years old we moved to the country, and I had to learn to keep pace with the earth on my own. I discovered a small pine forest behind our new house. There I spent my days fishing the cold stream, identifying scat, and crawling through caves. I enjoyed the warm patches of sun and the lusty scent of Christmas all year round.

I ended up there once with flowers. Perhaps I was decorating the grave of pollywogs or salamanders. I remember the pungent smell of picking apart a marigold to discern the intricate pattern of petals and seeds. That's why I understood, as I did, a poem I would learn next year in fourth grade: "God's in His Heaven/All's right with the world."

The world's changed, and I have, too. I find it harder year by year to take delight in a snow storm or mud season. I've adapted to air conditioning a little too much. Still, I know I'm happiest when I take time to remember the jailbirds and the woods. then I study the slow turning of the stars at night before I go to bed, or spend a summer afternoon dazzled by the ocean until sunset, or watch clouds roam a low autumn sky until I feel as if I'm afloat too. For me, it's the right way to live, keeping pace with the earth as best I can, convicted or free, until I soon become part of it.

About the author:
I'm a writer, a tutor, a gardener, a hiker, a reader, and a beach bum. I keep a charm of finches and a few tanks of fish. I like the outdoors and spend most of my time there, free!