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Poets on the Road
By Maureen Owen and Barbara Henning
Published by City Point Press
Distributed by Simon & Schuster
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Table of Contents
About The Book
Calling to mind Basho¯’s late life journeys through the backcountry of Japan, two women poets in a well-worn Honda hit the road for a legendary pilgrimage in a far-flung (pre-pandemic) landscape of American poetry.
Although a road trip across North American calls to mind Jack Kerouac’s youthful meanderings of self-discovery, this reading tour was more in the manner of Basho¯’s late life journeys through the backcountry of Japan. . . . The road trip was in a sense a pilgrimage of reengagement with their calling as poets, and a chance to reacquaint with like-minded friends, old and new, in a far-flung landscape of American poetry.
Venues would include upscale bookstores, coffee houses, museums, legendary used bookstores, botanical gardens, university classrooms, art centers, and artist coops—in short, a unique sampling of poetry environments tracing an arc across the Southern States, the Southwest, and up the West Coast before hooking back to the Rockies.
Framed as a personal challenge, the poets hit the road much in the manner of itinerant preachers and musicians, lodging at discount motels, funky hostels, Airbnbs, and with friends along the way. Adding a social media touch, Maureen and Barbara created a blog of their tour so that friends, family, hosts, and fellow poets might also share in their adventure.
—from the Introduction by Pat Nolan
Although a road trip across North American calls to mind Jack Kerouac’s youthful meanderings of self-discovery, this reading tour was more in the manner of Basho¯’s late life journeys through the backcountry of Japan. . . . The road trip was in a sense a pilgrimage of reengagement with their calling as poets, and a chance to reacquaint with like-minded friends, old and new, in a far-flung landscape of American poetry.
Venues would include upscale bookstores, coffee houses, museums, legendary used bookstores, botanical gardens, university classrooms, art centers, and artist coops—in short, a unique sampling of poetry environments tracing an arc across the Southern States, the Southwest, and up the West Coast before hooking back to the Rockies.
Framed as a personal challenge, the poets hit the road much in the manner of itinerant preachers and musicians, lodging at discount motels, funky hostels, Airbnbs, and with friends along the way. Adding a social media touch, Maureen and Barbara created a blog of their tour so that friends, family, hosts, and fellow poets might also share in their adventure.
—from the Introduction by Pat Nolan
Excerpt
One Eye Open & Driving
One eye open, the other still sleeping
yoga between beds, reach up, wake up
curtains drawn, passersby pass by
sky blue and wide, Texas style
pumping gas, a cow braying in a trailer
miles and miles of wind mills
a dry treeless main street town
Post Texas library with no bathrooms
love of the word, pee in McDonalds
no such thing as decaf, a donut
from Donut Depot for Maureen,
all of a sudden Lubbock &
a scruffy guy with a cigarette
dangling lays down his bike
and snaps us beside Buddy Holly’s
glasses, sun in my eyes, hello
from Cricket Street to Broadway,
urban coffee decaf and Turmeric Latte,
then off we go tracing the wires,
along US 84W, listening to Arthur Blythe
remembering entering Alvin’s Finer
under Blythe sound with Allen
& with Detroit friends, flat flat
land in 4 directions, finally hot,
in the Times read out loud
about prisoners in Brooklyn,
without heat, zero degrees, banging
on the walls & we’re 26 miles to Clovis
and Mexican food at Leal’s,
just a hop skip & jump to our beds
(Barb)
One eye open, the other still sleeping
yoga between beds, reach up, wake up
curtains drawn, passersby pass by
sky blue and wide, Texas style
pumping gas, a cow braying in a trailer
miles and miles of wind mills
a dry treeless main street town
Post Texas library with no bathrooms
love of the word, pee in McDonalds
no such thing as decaf, a donut
from Donut Depot for Maureen,
all of a sudden Lubbock &
a scruffy guy with a cigarette
dangling lays down his bike
and snaps us beside Buddy Holly’s
glasses, sun in my eyes, hello
from Cricket Street to Broadway,
urban coffee decaf and Turmeric Latte,
then off we go tracing the wires,
along US 84W, listening to Arthur Blythe
remembering entering Alvin’s Finer
under Blythe sound with Allen
& with Detroit friends, flat flat
land in 4 directions, finally hot,
in the Times read out loud
about prisoners in Brooklyn,
without heat, zero degrees, banging
on the walls & we’re 26 miles to Clovis
and Mexican food at Leal’s,
just a hop skip & jump to our beds
(Barb)
Product Details
- Publisher: City Point Press (June 6, 2023)
- Length: 176 pages
- ISBN13: 9781947951709
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