The novelty and adventure of travel takes us to our best moments. In a sense, discovering a new place that dazzles us is like falling in love. This levity naturally inspires. So, why not use this inspiration to create art? Because writing travel poems is my thing, that is the topic here. However, I fully encourage anyone to explore whatever form of art expresses their travel muse.
Besides writing poems there are numerous creative options, such as, painting/drawing, writing blogs, memoir or journals, videography, photography, mixed media or songwriting. As a travel blogger, I explore many other forms of art as well for my website and social media.
As a self-learned poet, I thankfully discovered to express my travel experiences through poetry. So, read on to get inspired about this refreshing art genre. Overall, there are infinite directions from which to take this personal path to creativity or self-expression.
My Story on Writing Travel Poems
The first time I experimented with writing travel poems was in Lima, Peru. I had just spent 2 weeks in Peru exploring Cusco, Machu Picchu and the Amazon rainforest. The last day before flying out, I gathered my photos, literature, paper and pen on the bed in the motel room. Then, I began automatic writing a poem about my Peruvian adventures.
An important part of this inspiration was Neruda’s poetry book that I brought with me called “The Heights of Machu Picchu.” While this article is mostly about writing travel poems, it’s important not to leave out reading travel poems for inspiration. Often, for me these 2 concepts go hand in hand. Reading Neruda’s epic poem gave me the fresh idea to write one myself.
The writing burst out of me into a lengthy poem within a couple hours. Of course, I edited it later. Most importantly, being immersed in recent and new inspiration, the writing became easily automatic. It’s somewhat like waking from a dream: you need to recall it right away because the memory slips away in time. Overall, the heightened mindset from travel along with Neruda’s “Heights of Machu Picchu” became the ultimate muse for my self-expression.
Like most arts, it’s best to save the editor mode for later, when you get home or back to reality.
Many poems and travel adventures later, I have written dozens of poems about places that inspired me. Next year, I aim to self-publish these poems that I have kept floating in the ethernet on a digital cloud. Overall, my collection includes travel poems from all 7 continents.
Psychologically, writing travel poems helps to process and integrate how travel experiences transform us.
Poetry is loaded with symbolic language that condenses our thought and feelings into an eloquent art form. This type of writing can reach yourself or readers at a much deeper, emotional level than left-brain logical writing or prose.
Overall, I believe that the essence of travel is both an art form & spiritual.
Where, what, how & why we travel is a brilliant form of self-expression. I will save this for another more in-depth article. However, I want to point out that writing travel poems is a form of ekphrasis. Simply, put this complex word means using one form of art to express another form. For example, writing a poem about a painting or travel experience. Even more, I regard travel as being spiritual. There’s a universal theme for taking a spiritual quest that is both an external and internal journey. This is upheld worldwide in many spiritual or religious beliefs.
Related: 14 Therapeutic Ways Travel is Healing
Whatever you want to call it. Just try it sometime. And you will discover at your deepest core how travel transforms you. Plus, you have a piece of art to share and show for it. Another novel idea is to create a travel book combining photos and poems.
Top Poets that Wrote Travel Poems
Also, it’s only fitting that I mention poets that wrote good Travel Poems. Usually, these types of poets have a good dose of wanderlust in their system. However, an obvious exception is Emily Dickinson, who travelled the universe from her home in her mind. Like aforementioned, Neruda is my favorite! Plus, who can leave out Walt Whitman “Song of the Open Road,” Edna St. Vincent Millay “Travel” and Elizabeth Bishop “Questions of Travel.”
And let’s not leave out the Beatniks from the 50’s, such as, Jack Kerouac, Lawrence Ferlinghetti & Gary Synder. These were arguably the first modern day travel poets. Kerouac’s “On the Road” is legendary. For inspiration, I love to visit their iconic, literary hub at City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco.
Related: My Pilgrimage to San Francisco’s City Lights Bookstore & Kerouac Alley
Additionally, a contemporary travel poet that inspired me is Susan Rich “Cures Include Travel.” I discovered her in Seattle at the Poem Emporium in Wallingford district. I went in the store and asked them” Who are some good authors that write travel poems?” They mentioned the Seattleite poet, Susan Rich. Even more, I did a virtual class with her during the pandemic on Travel & Poetry through Seattle’s Hugo House.
Lastly, here’s one of my travel poems inspired in the Outback of Australia. Also, in comments let me know your favorite Travel Poem!
I wrote this poem that was published on the website: Poetry and Places about my experience at the Ochre Pits in the Outback of Australia. The Aboriginals referred to ochre as the “stone of dreamtime.” Can’t you just feel the poem coming already? Bon Voyage to the center of your heart.
Related: Awesome Outback Attractions near Alice Springs, Australia
Stone of Dreamtime at Ochre Pits, Australia
by Trudy Wendelin
In the raw, ochre realms
Aborigines paint the blood of ancestors
From deep palette of minerals
Onto desert landscapes…
As shadows of sienna
Fade into glowing winds
Through the ephemeral light
With burnt whispers of fire,
Mining emotions from eternity,
Excavating years from eons
Of ancient tears & flesh
Into a dense moment in time.
My heart resonates with
Sanguine memories of death
& dry, earthen tones
Upon pyre of mystic clay
In the golden shards of day,
Dawn’s horizon warm
Into haze of ochre hues,
Tinged with iron rust
& rocks of the spirit’s viscera,
Bloodletting dreaming tracks
With songs to sing into existence
My walkabout along a desert stream…
