Wednesday, November 26, 2008

On the Road Trip that Never Ends: Skipping Woodstock

I like writing about road trips, car full of scraps of places I've been, things I ate, windshield the best movie I ever saw, skies and skies. Asphalt and shoulder and exit and merge and falling rock. That painful self-extraction from the driver seat after three and a half hours at 80 miles per to buy gas and a bag of m&ms.

But I can't go to Woodstock the way I've gone everywhere else. I can't just report on the KTD monastery and my hike up the mountain, Bread Alone, beautiful Devil's Kitchen (and the black trumpets I picked there), The Poet's Walk on the Hudson, my crappy motel, buying a little Tibetan carpet, coffee and ice cream, Annadale and Rheinbeck. You see, I was with Amy those three days, and to try to report on all these moments, sweet as they were, makes all this too complicated for here. Love is not a tourist. I can't separate it out, and so I won't.

I went to Woodstock, and then I went home, spent one more night in a Virginia motel, sauteed those trumpets in butter with pasta, and arrived home to three cats and looming fall classes. I've been waiting for distance to kick in so I could narrate all this, so I could take what's inside and put it out here. I can't.

5 comments:

John Guzlowski said...

It's there in you and when it's ready it will come out, and you will share it with your friends and the people you love.

Chryss said...

{{hugs}}

(never thought I'd use that, but seems the time...)

Marty said...

Thanks, John, Queen. It will. Maybe over a table and wine, maybe in a poem someday, but not in a blog. Double brackets mean hugs? Who knew? {{hugs!}}

Anonymous said...

{{hugs}} Ah! whatever the method for a self-extraction, let it be! if the verb allows you to be me and me to be you, and the rest of it all to play out on the windshield of a car, then we never even left each other's side. my love goes with you as your love stays with me....
but i really respect it not being modulated to fit this screen because it is far too large for an audience to get a good glitch. maybe start with something very small that stands out to you. truth and love can be found in the smallest of m&ms. and so unravel.
what stands out to me is the best ice cream cone I've had in my life! i found happiness with you, you found happiness with me, that is amazing, especially in this world full of trouble! and we are free to uncover it always.
Love, Skipping in Woodstock

Urkat said...

Black trumpets sauteed in butter---mmmmmmm