When I was driving through Wyoming past fields of just-overturned earth black in the noon sun
-- The Speaker (Lines 1-3)

Importance: The opening lines provide the setting and context as the speaker travels through rural Wyoming. The fields have been tilled in preparation for planting, likely black with fertilizer and compost. Though the evidence of farming is apparent, workers are absent from the poem.

and past thousands of cows totally at home in the open,
-- The Speaker (Lines 4-5)

Importance: The fields are solely populated by cows at ease in their domestication. Despite the apparent mundanity of this scene, it leaves an impression on the speaker. The wide open expanse of the landscape might be anxiety-provoking for other animals or even humans, but the speaker is struck by the cows' comfort.

I stopped the car to stop moving and got out to stand among them and I said nothing in English or Swedish.
-- The Speaker (Lines 6-8)

Importance: The speaker experiences a sudden need for...