A couple of weeks away from visiting Neruda’s house, David Miller wonders what ever happened to travel poetry.
Mural of Neruda in Chile. Photo: Magical-World
It all started with Neruda. Ten summers ago I read Full Woman, Fleshly Apple, Hot Moon, a bilingual edition translated by Stephen Mitchell.
At the time I knew nothing about Neruda or the way poetry and language could ‘define’ a place in time. Up until then the only thing that had done that was music.
That summer I was a camp counselor. I taught kids how to paddle. I’d go around dropping Neruda lines on anyone who’d listen–campers, other counselors. It became kind of a joke actually. I’d leave the book out so anyone could read it, and damn if it didn’t help to define that particular summer, the summer Neruda visited Camp High Meadows.
Hostiles cordilleras,
cielo duro,
extranjeros, ésta es,
ésta es mi patria,
aquí nací y aquí viven mis sueños.Hostile cordilleras,
hard sky,
foreigners: here it is,
here is my country,
here I was born and here live my dreams.–from “Regreso” by Pablo Neruda, translation by David Miller
As I read the lines my eyes would drift across to the Spanish original and the strangely accented, Latinate words. I became fascinated and then all out obsessed. I wanted this language and rhythm and landscape.
All different factors came together after that. A couple thousand saved up. A gnarly breakup with longtime girlfriend. Within a year I was on a bus in Latin America listening to cumbia, head-tripped and depressed and stoked and trying to absorb the words.
My whole life has flowed from this. Strangely, it feels like ever since I’ve been both ‘living it’ and at the same time have been trying to ‘get back to it’. I think this is where writing comes from. Not writing so much as it’s framed in debates like this one, but more in the sense of writing as an almost existential need.
Poetry is the original form of storytelling (Iliad, Odyssey), and epic voyages were always at the center. In the 19th century, Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass was all about travel and place. In the mid 20th century was Neruda. Later you have Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and probably most importantly as far as travel and place, Gary Snyder.
Later in the late 20th century you have Raymond Carver, who wrote poems about looking out of windows in Europe and runways in Buenos Aires and street fairs in Mexico as well as into the strait from his own backyard in Port Angeles Washington.
Allons! the road is before us!
It is safe—I have tried it—my own feet have tried it well.-From “Song of the Open Road,” Walt Whitman
As far as people still living, Jim Harrison writes poems about travel and places in Montana, Michigan, and the desert southwest. Billy Collins and Ted Kooser’s poems have elements of place, but seem more about little moments of ’seeing’ than anything else.
Moving from there to the younger generations, the only well known poet I can think of whose work has elements of travel or place is Sherman Alexie. But it’s interesting, place is usually just a backdrop in his work–there are few trees, mountains, rivers.
Who is doing it now as far as upcoming generations? Most of the poets I’ve been reading online lately like Tao Lin, Brandon Scott Gorell, and Kathryn Regina write about the world in a way that is very detached from location or travel. Is anyone writing something that could be called travel poetry, or poetry that focuses on place? I googled travel poetry and the results were ultra thin.
Looking at this progression (albeit not very comprehensively), I wonder:
Are we moving towards a language and poetry where place names, geography, knowledge of terrain, and ‘identity’ based on place is no longer relevant?
Has the only ‘legitimate’ form for writing on travel and place become limited to the narrative essay or memoir?
Who is writing poetry now that explores connections with place and travel?
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nice julie. you know i actually saw mary oliver in the nederland community center (there were like 15 people there) and it almost felt embarrassing. i don’t know what it was–the small group or the fact that we were all inside on a sweet day or mary’s ‘presence’ but whatever it was i came away feeling like i dunno. i guess she ‘carried herself’ like ‘this famous writer’ whereas you’re always hoping people will just be cool and approachable or whatever. (like once in seatle we walked up the stairs into the elementary school with julia alvarez and she had this cool ‘just stoked to be here’ presence.)
i guess this is all beside the point though, and maybe m.o. was just having a bad day but yeah, will have to revisit her work.
the main point is travel and place in poetry, and you’re right, m.o. is a good addition. i should mention coleman barks as well.
i’m just wondering where it’s going and looking to see whatever names people throw in, especially writers from other countries.
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I went to a reading for a Canadian self-described “travel poet” a couple years back. Sadly I’ve forgotten his name, but I liked his stuff. I think it’s all still out there, maybe just not drawing the “big names” (Whitman, Ginsberg, etc) that it used to. Then again, does poetry have those “big name” types it once did anymore, whether travel-centric or not?
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good points eva. i agree the audience for poetry is probably getting smaller and yeah, ‘big names’ are hard to imagine, although billy collins signed some relatively massive book deal a while back.
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I find Gary Snyder is awesome at evoking a sense of place in his poetry. Also, people may want to check out Henri Michaux. He was a painter/poet/travel writer. I just read his book “Ecuador” and it switches back and forth between prose and poetry to tell of his trip to that country. Sometimes you can hardly tell which is which, which I really liked.
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thanks for the comment and the rec, aaron. i’ve head of henri michaux but never read his stuff–that title sounds sweet. will definitely check out.
anyone else? what are people reading out there travel / place-wise that extends past ‘typical’ prose?
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I first began creatively expressing myself through poetry. Granted, it probably wasn’t good poetry, but it seemed like the only form available to me. It’s funny, I just resolved myself to start writing poems again and step up at an open mic poetry slam, something I haven’t done for 8 years.
Poems are elegant and can be so cutting and true. Then why is it poems seem to get the snub as far as “real” writing goes? Don’t know.
Thanks for bring this point up David. I have never read any Neruda, but I think I will mosey on down to the library this afternoon.↵ -
testing…
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Sorry for that — I kept trying to post this comment, but it just wasn’t working. For some reason, it liked “testing.” Let’s try this again…
I love that you’re always bringing in the different genres, David. Writing is becoming increasingly divided these days.Robert Hass, one of my all time favorite poets, is not what I would call a travel poet, but he does an incredible job evoking the landscape of the Bay Area, California, which has always been his home. Identity and place are bound together in almost all of his work.
In The Country Between Us, Carolyn Forche wrote about the time she spent working with Amnesty International in El Salvador at the beginning of the 80s, helping to find what had happened to the people who were disappearing during the reign of terror. She calls her poetry “the poetry of witness,” but it is deeply personal. I have never, ever tired of this book. Her lyric talent is out of this world.
If you want to peek into Australia, Les Murray is an interesting, political Australian poet who really evokes life in the bush.
There are many, many more…I do think poetry is increasingly losing its ties to place, maybe in part because the form, while losing some of its formality, has become more cerebral. So much poetry these days is about language, and playing with language. I feel like its lost some of its connection to the body.
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sweet simone, really appreciate the kind words and fired up to check out Carolyn Forche. she’s another one, like henri michaux, whose name i’ve heard but work i’ve never had a chance to check out.
robert hass was another good call–one I overlooked mentioning.
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I discovered the boar.dom a few years ago. Any time I’m feeling trapped in my home town I read about one of the locations under ‘Days’ and I’m transported to another part of the world with a whole new bunch of experiences (negative and positive) and a different perspective. It’s not a collection of poems. It’s poetic travel writing that captures the character of a place and it’s people with pure terrifying honesty. http://boar.com/days/
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I still think haikus are a great poetry-fix for the Twitter, no-attention-span set. They capture a moment in time with aching precision, and force the writer to be extremely selective about the words chosen. A perfect example is Craig Arnold (who sadly passed away this year in Japan):
The day is breaking –
one side of the mountain pink
one in cold shadow-Jodi
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I wonder if the cause for this is because, like you said, poetry is more often used in music. So, instead of having magnificent poets in the form of poetry, plain and simple, we have poets in the form of magnificent musicians. When I think about people that could be called that, without perusing my ITunes or the internet, I come up with Bob Dylan, Paolo Nutini, The Pogues, possibly Flogging Molly, and in some of their work Led Zeppelin. Now, I’m not saying that all of these artists and bands work is poetry focusing on a place or the travel, but a good portion of it is.
Now to go to ITunes and find specific examples for each.
Bob Dylan: Under the Red Sky, Simple Twist of Fate, Hurricane, Lily, Rosermary, and the Jack of Hearts.
Paolo Nutini: These Streets, Alloway Grove, Autumn
The Pogues: Lullaby of London, Fairytale of New York, A Rainy Night in Soho, Dirty Old Town – A lot of the Pogues music is about places they have been, love or hate.
Flogging Molly: Tobacco Island, The Wanderlust, Within a Mile of Home.
Led Zeppelin: Kashmir (about travel), Over the Hills and Far Away, Going to California, Down by the Seaside.Just my 2c.
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Dear David Miller…I was delighted to come across your link…I am struggling at this moment to try and put ‘good’ words to some footage I have of Croatia…and just googled…. Ginsberg’s Travel Poems …which led me to you. I have one or two ‘travel’ poems ??? up on my Poemsapennyeach youtube site. I wonder would you think they qualify as such ? All best wishes from a very wet and cold Ireland. kristine
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