How does one stand
To behold the sublime,
To confront the mockers,
The mickey mockers
And plated pairs?
—Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)
... memory is the only way home.
—Terry Tempest Williams, U.S. author. As quoted in Listen to Their Voices, ch. 10, by Mickey Pearlman (1993)
I think an erotics of place may be one of the reasons why environmentalists are seen as subversive. There is a backlash now:... [ellipsis in source] take all the regulations away; weaken existing legislation; the endangered species act is too severe, too restrictive; let there be carte blanche for real-estate developers. Because if we really have to confront wildness, solitude, and serenity, both the fierceness and compassionate nature of the land, then we ultimately have to confront it in ourselves, and it’s easier to be numb, to be distracted, to be disengaged.
—Terry Tempest Williams, U.S. author and environmentalist. As quoted in Listen to Their Voices, ch. 10, by Mickey Pearlman (1993)