Maps
If we fold the map just so, the journey’s path
shrinks considerably. Sacramento enters the Hudson
Valley, Toronto meets Santa Fe, and Lee County,
Mississippi merges with Tupelo, Texas, joining music
to fruitcakes in a celebratory feast. Stroll down one
road and find a lost car. Exit a theater to enter bliss
or a good bar with craft beer on tap, where no one
discusses mileage and you may eavesdrop on
conversations about ancient nautical battles, the
history of chili, and radiation. Unfold the map
twice to find yourself in Swamp Angel, Kansas,
named after a Civil War field gun and not a spiritual
being, and wander to the next intersection near
Barstow, where Joshua trees tickle the sky’s belly
and I ate the best chili dog in my young life’s
experience in 1968. Look to the edges, where the
best places crowd and nowhere lives in a corner.
Jump from Busan to Venice, drive to Perth and
beyond. Slowly crease the page. Do this again.
Point blindly. There. Your destination waits.
My poem “Maps” iwas publishedin February 2019 at Riggwelter. Thank you, Amy Kinsman, for taking this piece, which was originally drafted during the August 2016 Tupelo Press 30-30 Challenge. I owe its existence to Ken Gierke, who sponsored the poem and provided the title (which I changed) that sparked this piece.
O at the Edges 
This map has never failed me.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’ll get you there, particularly if you don’t care where there is. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Nice. Keep folding until the world becomes all wormholes and hyperlinks. And if you’re of the psychedelic persuasion, revisit Pink Floyd’s “Brain Damage” (“The lunatics are in the hall / the paper holds their folded faces to the floor / and every day the paperboy brings more”).
LikeLiked by 1 person
I just listened to Dark Side of the Moon yesterday, for the first time in many years. The lunatics are indeed in the halls of statehouses…
LikeLiked by 1 person
More now than ever
LikeLike
I have never jumped from Busan to Venice… but I have jumped from Busan to Tongdo… there was some GREAT dolsot-bibimbap made by the old ladies in the local temple’s cafeteria. Jump from anywhere “to” dolsot-bibimbap… best jump ever (especially if you include a side of japchae!).
LikeLiked by 1 person
I doubt that I’ll be jumping to Busan anytime in the near future, but we managed to make it to French Lick recently. Not quite the same…
LikeLiked by 1 person
French Lick may be the Tongdo of Indiana…
LikeLiked by 1 person
No doubt!
LikeLike
My map is all edges. Another one I remember and revisit with pleasure. (K)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Edges get all the good action and places!
LikeLike