In the long journey out of the self,
There are many detours, washed-out interrupted raw places
Where the shale slides dangerously
And the back wheels hang almost over the edge
At the sudden veering, the moment of turning.
Better to hug close, wary of rubble and falling stones.
The arroyo cracking the road, the wind-bitten buttes, the canyons,
Creeks swollen in midsummer from the flash-flood roaring into the narrow valley.
Reeds beaten flat by wind and rain,
Grey from the long winter, burnt at the base in late summer.
-- Or the path narrowing,
Winding upward toward the stream with its sharp stones,
The upland of alder and birchtrees,
Through the swamp alive with quicksand,
The way blocked at last by a fallen fir-tree,
The thickets darkening,
The ravines ugly.
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The first thing that I thought was peculiar about the poem was how it is talking about the journey into the "interior", which to me gives a sense of an internal search within oneself, yet much of the imagery that is used in the poem aludes to the outside world. It is not just any environment either; it takes about places that seem very barren far from any human contact. I thought that these contrasting images used to compare someone's "interior" to vast, lonely places was very interesting. I also thought that it was contradictory to say "journey out of the self" but into the interior at the same time. The ways the author described the journey worked in the way that it made that journey seem not only dangerous, but one that someone must face him/herself. I did not get a sense for any type of connection with an outside person besides the within the writer. By the end of the poem, I am not exactly sure if the journey was completed or not. It talks about how "the way" was "blocked at last", and immediately the scene darkens and gets uglier, as if the situation is closing in on the person. Interpreted in this way, it would seem that trying to find something deep within oneself is almost an impossible task. Either that, or the journey is still unfinished, with more obstacles to come in the way.
There are many detours, washed-out interrupted raw places
Where the shale slides dangerously
And the back wheels hang almost over the edge
At the sudden veering, the moment of turning.
Better to hug close, wary of rubble and falling stones.
The arroyo cracking the road, the wind-bitten buttes, the canyons,
Creeks swollen in midsummer from the flash-flood roaring into the narrow valley.
Reeds beaten flat by wind and rain,
Grey from the long winter, burnt at the base in late summer.
-- Or the path narrowing,
Winding upward toward the stream with its sharp stones,
The upland of alder and birchtrees,
Through the swamp alive with quicksand,
The way blocked at last by a fallen fir-tree,
The thickets darkening,
The ravines ugly.
------------
The first thing that I thought was peculiar about the poem was how it is talking about the journey into the "interior", which to me gives a sense of an internal search within oneself, yet much of the imagery that is used in the poem aludes to the outside world. It is not just any environment either; it takes about places that seem very barren far from any human contact. I thought that these contrasting images used to compare someone's "interior" to vast, lonely places was very interesting. I also thought that it was contradictory to say "journey out of the self" but into the interior at the same time. The ways the author described the journey worked in the way that it made that journey seem not only dangerous, but one that someone must face him/herself. I did not get a sense for any type of connection with an outside person besides the within the writer. By the end of the poem, I am not exactly sure if the journey was completed or not. It talks about how "the way" was "blocked at last", and immediately the scene darkens and gets uglier, as if the situation is closing in on the person. Interpreted in this way, it would seem that trying to find something deep within oneself is almost an impossible task. Either that, or the journey is still unfinished, with more obstacles to come in the way.
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