Time overlaps itself. A breath breathed from a passing breeze is not the whole wind, neither is it just the last of what has passed and the first of what will come, but is more--let me see--more like a single point plucked on a single strand of a vast spider web of winds, setting the whole scene atingle. That way; it overlaps...As prehistoric ferns grow from bathtub planters. As a shiny new ax, taking a swing at somebody's next year's split-level pinewood pad, bites all the way to the Civil War. As proposed highways break down through the stacked strata of centuries.
In Ken Kesey's "Sometimes a Great Notion," the concept of time is portrayed as a multifaceted entity that intertwines past, present, and future. The metaphor of a breath caught in a breeze highlights how moments are interconnected, each influencing the others in an intricate web. It suggests that individual experiences are not isolated but part of a continuum that reverberates throughout history.
The imagery of prehistoric ferns growing in modern planter boxes and new axes impacting future events illustrates how actions and memories resonate through time, affecting generations to come. This notion emphasizes the persistent and overlapping nature of time, where each moment simultaneously carries echoes of the past while shaping what is to come, melding history with the present in a seamless flow.
