In thinking about the Around the World challenge, I decided I’d like to choose books that have a sense of place–preferably the author’s place.  It’s strange, though, to think about what actually reveals place when we’re familiar with whatever the place is.  Someone told me that pseudophakia had a sense of place for Ohio and, honestly, I couldn’t see it.  I’m too close to it to know what’s “Ohioan” about what I write.

In puzzling over it, I decided to write a poem with a strong sense of place, and ended up with “Flyover Country.”  I think that poem does say something about this spot, but is it a unique something?  Does a sense of place require that it fit only one place, or can it be a type of place that could be found anywhere in the world?

In short, what gives a piece of writing a sense of place?  How do we know it when we see it?