Monday, March 08, 2010

Monday Poetry Stretch - On the Road Again

I may be out of town, but auto publish is a wonderful thing. I was thinking that this might be the perfect time to write about travel and/or transportation. I hate to fly, but love the train. Sadly, it's the plane I end up taking most often. How about you? What's your favorite way to travel? Your favorite place to visit? Where do you want to go that you've never been?
Let's write about travel. Leave me a note about your poem and I'll post the results here later this week.

9 comments:

  1. Last week I tried really hard, and failed miserably, at writing a pantoum. So, shame got the better of me and I tried again using this week's travel theme.

    It ain't pretty, but at least I finished it!

    Traversing Water: A Pantoum

    Looking for adventure?
    If your object is to traverse
    A lake, a pond, or stream
    Climb aboard a kayak or canoe.

    If your object is to traverse
    With a minimum of effort,
    Climb aboard a kayak or canoe.
    Grab a paddle! Even a stick!

    With a minimum of effort
    A downed tree trunk will do!
    Grab a paddle--even a stick--
    Pretend you are Huck Finn!

    A downed tree trunk will do
    For a lake, a pond, or stream!
    Pretend you are Huck Finn
    Looking for adventure.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Traveler

    Earth sings, and we lift
    our eyes, then wings
    to cool blue skies.

    Leaves swirl away
    below us, red
    and yellow stars

    but we are
    a feathered constellation,
    arrow pointing

    down the long
    sky-path to where
    everything begins.

    --Kate Coombs, 2010

    ReplyDelete
  3. I am the Traveler

    I am the traveler,
    you the boat,
    that carries us far;
    and as we float
    along the years,
    each eddying wave,
    from birth-broken waters
    to tear-stained grave
    reads like a carefully-
    scripted note
    that I am the traveler,
    you the boat.


    © 2010 by Jane Yolen, all rights reserved

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oops, lots of water this week! Oh well. I woke up with the first line of this poem in my head this morning. It feels so good to Stretch this week! It's been a while!

    By Wind

    I sailed a poem to the grocery store

    The bus was late
    My bike had a flat
    I was too lazy to walk

    But it was all right
    Words like "feather" and "easement" billowed the sails
    And I floated right over the asphalt, above the exhaust
    Anchored by the twin hulls of "only" and "below"

    I took aboard two brown grocery bags,
    Raced waves down Portland Avenue,
    And tried to keep apples and cheddar cheese and Diet Coke
    From spilling overboard onto the real world
    (I think one apple hit a taxi,
    But I considered that fair exchange
    For that nightmare ride to
    Dance Expo last month, when the driver
    Didn’t even look before
    Streaking onto wild, honking 3rd Street)

    I tacked the poem
    Tried to control the wind
    Until I woke up

    And realized I was wasting a perfect sailing day
    So I just let the poem drift
    I climbed its mast up into clouds and
    Let the poem sail itself

    --Laura Purdie Salas, all rights reserved

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  5. I'd love to sail a poem, Laura!

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  6. Cancelled Flight


    An ocean of travelers
    sprawl across islands of baggage
    like scurvy-ridden sailors
    adrift on a windless sea.
    A disembodied voice
    announces another numbered flight
    that will not reach home.
    I close my eyes
    and wish I were nine,
    lying in the back
    seat
    where I watched
    the slow strobe
    of lights
    flash by,
    felt
    the gentle
    pressure on my side
    as the car
    turned right
    and climbed
    the hill
    toward
    home.

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  7. Armchair Traveler
    by Nicole Marie Schreiber

    Sailing on a sea of words,
    each page I turn is
    a window into another life
    I want to live.

    Shall I restore a house in Tuscany,
    live on a vineyard in Provence,
    or own a bookshop in Hay-on-Wye?

    Maybe sell all of my possessions
    and travel the world with my family,
    where we could ride elephants in Thailand,
    eat gelato in Italy,
    dance Flamenco in Spain,
    watch giraffes in Kenya,
    or play fiddles in Ireland?

    Or shall I follow in the footsteps
    of Jane Austen, Beatrix Potter,
    and the Bronte sisters
    to learn the secrets
    of their success
    in the English countryside?

    No matter which path I choose,
    with book in lap
    and tea in hand,
    I shall always remember
    seven simple words to live by--

    Keep calm,
    keep reading,
    and travel on.

    ReplyDelete
  8. This was an interesting week at my very urban school -- don't have travel on my mind.

    Lice are not nice!
    When you scratch you think twice:
    who's there, in my hair?
    Why me, it's not fair?
    No, lice are not nice!
    Do I need a short shave?
    Mom says, behave and be brave.
    Because lice are not nice,
    no, lice are not nice. No!

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  9. Hope you get the flowers you want soon. The sun's finally out here. I've been scattered all week, what with the Spring fever.

    ReplyDelete