Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Traveling Light

Traveling Light

How little can I bring
with me, that is a game
I enjoy. Not nothing
but very few things
is the goal. Begin with
time and a bag. A week
or less, and it’ll be a tote,
just a carry-on and a purse.
I make a deal with myself
that I will wear what is
packed. Two pairs of shoes,
two dresses, two pairs
of pants, and shirts that
hold their stomachs in
when I flatten them.
I like to bring one thing
that I can throw away
before returning.
If I forget one item,
how might I adapt.
I want to surprise
myself. At home,
abundance, options,
twenty dresses, purple,
black, red, blue, neon
floral tights. But for
travel, scarcity. I am
leaving room. I am
willing away all that
I do not need.

8 comments

  1. ...and, unless one travels by rail or bus, one gets charged a fortune for each bag, so it pays to travel light!

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  2. we need to learn how to travel in our own lives, in our every days, without the accumulation. how weary we become with all of our weight.

    xo
    erin

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  3. i resonate strongly with this after all our packing and moving sigh. It makes you think you can survive on 2 outfits, spare undies, a spoon, a knife and fork and a plate.

    thea.
    xx

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  4. I love that image - the metaphysics of packing, and you've done an excellent job of capturing the negotiation between necessity and meaning in our choices. Every detail is an opportunity for being present in what is -- stripping out the what is not we brought to it. We call that freedom.

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  5. Packing light--a beautiful poem packed with -
    as all your writing is . .
    your special insights--and light.

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  6. It is a brief visit here, Hannah. Hence,we do travel light. I agree with Mr. Sigler: necessity and meaning. Soon enough, we travel out there. We hope to encounter meaning despite the barest equipment. But there is also here as Eluard put it. Even here, we travel light as long as we are happy.

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  7. "and shirts that
    hold their stomachs in
    when I flatten them."

    Bravo!

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  8. Nice tension between the chatty, the casual surface and something kinda scary in the undertow.

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