Poetry + a Cross-Country Road Trip

I will be posting a lot about this in the next couple months, but in September, I am going on a cross-country road trip from Baltimore, Maryland to Santa Cruz, California. I am going with my partner, who is a writer, so expect a lot of literary-nerd things to happen. One poem for each state that we drive through.

There is something powerful about reading pieces from poets who are either from the land that I am driving over, or have driven over the same land. I enjoy hearing others' views of the beauty, the squalor, the community, and the culture of other places, especially those that I have not visited previously.

Here are the states that I will be passing through and the poems that I have chosen to read as we drive through them:

Maryland - "Baltimore on Upper Eutaw" by Sidi J. Mahtrow
Pennsylvania - "Returning Native" by John Updike
West Virginia - "How to Get to Green Springs" by Dave Smith
Ohio - "Autumn Begins in Martins Ferry, Ohio" by James Wright
Indiana - "How Evolution Came to Indiana" by Philip Appleman
Illinois - "Roots" by John Pillar
Missouri - "Reflection on History in Missouri" by Constance Urdang
Kansas - "Kansas August Evening" by Jamie Lynn Heller
Colorado - "The Garden" by Susie Kerin
Wyoming - "Western Civilization" by James Galvin
Utah - "Provo" by Mark Rudman
Nevada - "Sparks, Nevada" by Cynthia Cruz
California - "The Dogs at Live Oak Beach, Santa Cruz" by Alicia Ostriker

If you have other recommendations, I would absolutely love to hear them, so please leave them in the comments.

Literary Tourism: Jack Kerouac's Grave

This weekend, I took a trip to beautiful New England and stopped a little on the way. My favorite stop was Jack Kerouac's grave in Lowell, MA. You may know Kerouac as one of the great Beat poets, the author of On The Road, and a rabblerouser who loved to drink and adventure.

Lowell, MA is Kerouac's hometown. He was born there in 1922 and Lowell has a lot of love for him. There are a few different websites regarding self-guided Kerouac tours through Lowell, and the city has a Kerouac Festival each October.

When I stop at literary greats' grave sites, I usually bring a piece of theirs along to read at the site. My partner read Kerouac's poem, 113th Chorus (which you can read here) and I read his poem, How to Meditate (read it here). In finding Kerouac's unassuming gravestone, I found that many other people had also recently stopped by to memorialize him. Left on his stone were twelve stones, two sticks, a blue candle (melting in the warm sun), two handwritten notes (which I did not open, out of respect), and an unlit cigarette.

Taking part in this trek created a strong connection between me and the others who have walked along Seventh Street in the Edson Cemetery, searching for the place where the body of the late, great creator of the Beat generation lies forevermore.

In the comments, tell me a time that you have visited the grave site of a literary great, and whether you left anything, read anything, and how you felt about the experience.

Literary Road Trip: Mid-Atlantic & New England

gorgeous artwork from takenbythewind.com

I'll be heading up to Massachusetts for some family-related events this weekend and decided to drive. Because of this, I will have ample opportunity to stop on the side of the road and read excerpts from my favorite authors at their gravesites, homes of birth, or local bookstores (where I may or may not exhaust all of my spending money). I have also purchased Wally Lamb's We are Water audiobook to accompany me on this 8-hour drive (it's actually a 23-hour audiobook). I have been taking suggestions all day because I plan to do at least one stop in each of the following states: Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, New York (City), Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts. If you have any suggestions, leave 'em in the comments. Head back over here in a week or so to check out my adventures!

-Ann Marie