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HITCHHIKING: 4 HAIKU-LIKE POEMS
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Private Notes
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FROM NYC TO CAPE COD
Hitchhiking: 4 Haiku-Like Poems
Age 18, Summer 1962
-- This is one poem, in an autobiographical series of poems, I posted here at WriteSpike. Go to my stories section for others. They are in chronological order. --
And for just a moment I had reached the point of ecstasy
that I always wanted to reach, which was the complete step
across chronological time into timeless shadows...
~ Jack Kerouac, "On the Road" ~
LEAVING
They said I couldn't
hitchhike
out of lower Manhattan
so I did -
standing 2 hours
on a ramp
for a ride
up the Henry Hudson Parkway
that shot me
into Connecticut
IN TRANSIT
Diesel semis sweep by
a rush of wind and smoke
thumb up
I lean into the highway
time almost stops
SUNSET, SOMEWHERE ON AN EIGHT-LANE IN CONNECTICUT
The breeze of traffic
tugs at my shirt -
the last slice of sun
falls behind the hills
I button my coat
the sky darkens
and I am overcome with joy
MY SECRET PATH
In the middle
of the Mid-Cape Highway
so dark,
even the stars seem bright
The driver lets me off
at an iron guardrail
where they had cut
our old town road
when they built the four-lane
With no street lamps
I walk 2 miles to my home
surrounded by the night
Comments
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Hitchhiking in the 60's... Sounds like in adventure! I've hitchhiked in South America and it was a great experience. By the way, I love "On The Road"!!
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As always I really feel the scene of your poems!
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I try to use as many senses as possible to tell the story
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Amazing. It's almost as if I just went on your journey with you!
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Thanks Jared, I try to describe things both externally and internally -- and I am very pleased that so many people here at WriteSpike 'get' what I am describing.
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SUNSET, SOMEWHERE ON AN EIGHT-LANE IN CONNECTICUT The breeze of traffic tugs at my shirt - the last slice of sun falls behind the hills I button my coat the sky darkens and I am overcome with joy
This reminds me of traveling to the Universities I went too. The thought liberation and unlocking of your mind on a road trip. I love the way you construct these poems. They are so beautiful written and well-crafted.-
And I like your turn of phrase. "thought liberation and unlocking of your mind on a road trip"
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Really amazing word choices to paint the scenes so clearly. I also like that you added Kerouac in the beginning.
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I had just read On The Road and it was a major reason I started hitchhiking.
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I just saw a hitchhiker yesterday melting in the heat. I felt bad for him because I knew there was probably no one that was going to pick him up. I have never hitchhiked. I never really felt like it was safe enough to do it. I envy you for being able to do so at a time when it was less risky. Seems like quite the adventure!
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It was risky then, but I just wanted the freedom of doing things on my own. Yet I think it is riskier now -- you are trusting strangers.
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I really like this. It's great how each small poem is a piece of the larger journey, as though they are physically symbolizing the different segments of an adventure such as hitchhiking in the '60s. Sometimes I wish I could time travel to the 60s just to hitchhike to Woodstock. I don't go to any music festivals now (not really my scene), and I certainly haven't hitchhiked. It would be fun, though, to try both when they were at the height of their existence/wildness.
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Thanks for pointing out that the different poems are like different segments of the trip -- I had not thought of that. I am always learning something from people's comments.
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BUT Tomas, be careful. I'm not sure I would do it today. You have to keep your wits about you.