We live in secret cities and we travel unmapped roads
— excerpt from a poem “The Cities Inside Us” by Alberto Rios (1998) https://poets.org/poem/cities-inside-us
this paper long ago became crinkled aged ripped torn soft from many years of unfolding folding pocketing life's longitudes latitudes coordinates corners ripped but still as always with patience the horizon sits waiting foot by foot by foot we continue on
for the #NWP #writeacrossamerica project (Arizona)
Only my eyes have traversed the lines of Antelope Canyon, the twisted wind sculptures of Time, the remix artist, whose playful grin and material makes the most of what Earth has to offer
for the #NWP #writeacrossamerica project (Arizona)
Some still dig deep into this earth, the past condensed into their skin like pressed stones, mottled with dust and dirt and stories and home
for the #NWP #writeacrossamerica project (Eastern Kentucky)
His name is feud, the Rowan County kind of carelessness, where story threads always end with the reminder of a promise:
“Remember what you swore to do .... Keep your word”
and so a place becomes reborn, as does a name
for the #NWP #writeacrossamerica project (Eastern Kentucky)
We were fourteen and on the move of his family farm's twisting hillside cowpaths with borrowed shotguns and no plans when the flock of geese announced their arrival and I shot my first shot ever with no aim at all, just pointing to the sky and pulling the trigger, and watching something once alive falling from the sky, my gut clenched tight as my friend shouted, and later, plucking the feathers and chewing the rangy meat I regretted every moment I became that hunter
for the #NWP #writeacrossamerica project (North Dakota)
Standing still in the exact center of this country, one senses nearly simultaneously how solid and yet how fragile it all is, these fault lines cracking, and how tired is this turtle of foreverness, its carapace not quite designed for something like this
for the #NWP #writeacrossamerica project (North Dakota)
What colors will you choose to unite us on this downtown American city wall, capturing footsteps pounding concrete, the song we sing, the melody of urban sprawl, each letter of his name calling us together, the design of one, of all
for the #NWP #writeacrossamerica project (Minnesota)
Inspired by https://uploads.knightlab.com/storymapjs/c00f292af38f74b418a459eaa6d889fd/write-across-minnesota/draft.html
Home is the place of all sixteen words spoken in Dakota, every doorway another entry for the lost becoming welcomed
for the #NWP #writeacrossamerica project (Minnesota)
Inspired by https://uploads.knightlab.com/storymapjs/c00f292af38f74b418a459eaa6d889fd/write-across-minnesota/draft.html
Brick dust and bones and kicked stones and walls torn apart; the end is where this starts
for the #NWP #writeacrossamerica project (New Hampshire)
Inspired by https://uploads.knightlab.com/storymapjs/2cd7b071a0f9cbb98a2f4b0c8dce5bc3/sample-map/index.html
In infancy, we hear loons; we bathe in the possibility of forgotten moons; we're always afloat on this surface, fragile tension balloons made of impossible entwined thread; birds of dawn and dusk singing to the dead
for the #NWP #writeacrossamerica project (New Hampshire)
Inspired by https://uploads.knightlab.com/storymapjs/2cd7b071a0f9cbb98a2f4b0c8dce5bc3/sample-map/index.html