john burroughs: one fine essayist
in portland one of my darlingest friends used to make me drive him to the sandy river so he could read me walt whitman. now we live in different cities, but any time he thinks i need his advice, this is what he says, "have you been reading your whitman? go read some whitman." now, i never appreciated whitman when they crammed him down our throats in ap english back in the day (i was more of a dylan thomas kinda reader,) but nowadays i know that a day at the river with whitman is hard to beat.
but, know who i love more than walt whitman? john burroughs. if you don't know about thoreau's little brother (as i like to call him) wikipedia has a basic introduction that you should read. right now. go! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Burroughs. this man's writings overflow with the same american exuberance as whitman but center around the more down to earth themes of nature and conservation. he always tells it like it is. and when he says "i still find each day too short for all the thoughts I want to think, all the walks I want to take, all the books I want to read, and all the friends I want to see" i am right there with him.