Thursday, March 14, 2013

Lenten Challenge, Day 30: Go

I've always wanted to go on one of those trips where you just pack a bag and head to the airport, purchasing a ticket on the first flight out. A trip where you just pick up and GO. But the planner in me has always squashed what little spontaneity I may (or may not) have been born with.

I like the thought of just getting up and going, but in reality, it gives me a bit of a panic attack. Where would I stay, what would I do, when could I get a flight back? (Breathes into paper bag.)

I do see the benefit in getting out of my normal, everyday world, though, and replacing it with a new place and a new perspective. It changes me, cleanses my palette a little bit, and heightens my senses. In fact, every time I come back from a trip, my little poetry notebook is always full of new images and pieces of poems.

So today, I'm posting two poems that came out of a trip Ryan and I made to Italy a few years back. It wasn't spontaneous, but it changed me. And who knows...maybe one day I can pack up and go back.

Swiss Alps

Cowbells clanged
as the cable car rocked us up
and over the trees, setting us

down on the top of Monte Tamaro.
Thin air pricked our lungs
and the view pierced our eyes--

an azzuro sky laid out and tucked behind
peaks of snow and sun-poked clouds.
Our guide's arm led our sight

up the highest face to a modern church,
its brick frame jutting out in midair.
A spot to fall in love, said the guide.

We stood at the edge, hands hooked.
Under the sky-roof we thought
our prayers could be heard first.



Ravenna

I heard the sun shine in Ravenna.

It mingled with the purr
of bicycle spokes and the flutter
of a wood-dove's wings gliding by.

Un latte, per favore, I asked,
so I could sit awhile, drinking happy,
and wonder where the citizens
of utopia go for vacation.

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