13 Ways of Looking at a Road Trip: 8, Collection

Sometimes--well, rather often--others say what I need to say far better than I can. 

I have been so many places I must be sunlight. I have been diffused by clouds. To hike to the top of the mountain, I must spend the afternoon facing the steep slant of earth, my hands in brambles. Only once I am high enough can I turn and see the tin roofs and straight beds of flowers, dropped to an Euclidian flatness. Where have I been? Listen, I have been diffused by clouds, by everyone who has touched me, and just like you I am a radiation destined for the earth. --from Syzygy, Beauty by T Fleischmann

 This could be the very minute I'm aware I'm alive. All these places feel like home. --from "Chocolate" by Snow Patrol

I wrote about Kansas, I wrote about Illinois, I wrote about Indiana; wherever I was. And if I moved tomorrow I'd write about where I showed up, no matter where it was. And so my attitude is this: where you live is not crucial, but how you feel about where you live is crucial. --William Stafford

I love it here. I love the curtains, the ruffles. I love being in the window and off on our own. --my mother, at Carolyn's Essenhaus for lunch in Arlington, KS, with my grandma Lentz

If I ever get around to living, I'll take the end of every day, tie it up to every morning, and sail away. --from "If I Ever Get Around to Living" by John Mayer

We have never held hands before; I have simply reached for his in the dark and held him while he holds me. I want to see our hands on the rough floor, but they are only visible every block or so when the car passes beneath a streetlight, and then, for only a flash. Ben is my closest friend because he lives next door, we are the same age, and we both have little brothers who are babies. I wish he were in the same kindergarten class as me, but he goes to a different school—one where he has to wear a uniform all day and for which there is no school bus. --from "First" by Ryan Van Meter

You are the bravest girl in the world. --my grandma Jackson, when she opened the door to me upon my arrival in town

I toured the light; so many foreign roads for Emma, forever ago. --from "For Emma" by Bon Iver

Where friends of mine once lived,
and I came there to understand: it was like
seeing, and knowing amid what you see.

A meadowlark brought me back,
just flying its road and singing,
being alive. I brought home this tumbleweed.
--from "A Gift for Kit" by William Stafford

Rollin' through these hills I've known I'd be comin' / Ain't a man alive that likes to be alone / Been a while since I've seen my lady smile / Have I been, have I been away so long? --from "For the Summer" by Ray LaMontagne and the Pariah Dogs

But when you go out and put yourself in real relation to real people, or even just real animals, there's a very real danger that you might end up loving some of them. --from "Pain Won't Kill You" by Jonathan Franzen