Go where poets have gone
Hemingway
This writer is not known for his poems, but he wrote great ones. Known for their brevity, Hemmingway poems can leave you wanting more. Your journey begins in Key West. Pack light.
zora
Zora Neale Hurston. That’s all. Your journey begins north of Orlando, in a place called Eatonville. It is less than six miles from Orlando’s city center. Keep your plans wide open, and be ready to explore. The Moseley house Museum and the Zora Neale Hurston National Museum are well worth the trip in and of themselves. However, there is plenty more to explore in this amazing town, including architectural (and railroad) clues surrounding its historic formation in the 1880s. Zora was born in 1891, in Notasulga, Alabama and moved to Eatonville in 1894 with her family. More amazing aspects of Eatonville to explore are coming soon, but consider incorporating Eatonville into a road trip heading north to Notasulga. This mostly rural six hour drive is a perfect opportunity to meditate on the history of migration south out of Alabama and Georgia in the 1880s. From Notasulga, Zora’ birthplace, a short drive to the major hub of Atlanta will take you to the National Center for Civil and Human Rights, which is worth at least a day of exploring. From Atlanta easy air connections are accessible, as well as a fine place to continue your road trip (perhaps to Howard University, Zora’s alma mater).
dickinson
Emily is a well of meaning. Draw from it slowly, and savor. Your journey begins on a farm on the outskirts of Springfield, Mass. Take your time and pick the coziest air bnb’s you can find. Think fireplace, afghans and, of course, a book, or three.
Your journey begins farther east than any point in the U.S., including Puerto Rico. This is a place as far east as Newfoundland and Labrador, as far east as Greenland, but as far south as Senegal and Nicaragua. Nestled into a seaside groove on collarbone of a volcanic mountain rising 3,000 feet above the sea is the city of Castries, St. Lucia. This is where your Derek Walcott inspired journey begins. In this island city of under 100,000 inhabitants, you will find the homes and birthplaces of two Nobel Prize winners - one in economics (Arthur Lewis) and the other in literature (Walcott). From Castries you can take a ferry to Martinique in a 90 minute trip. Seas can be choppy at times, but for only an hour and a half trip of a lifetime it’s well worth it. You will want to be reading the poem “The Schooner Flight”, an absolute masterpiece that can nourish you for weeks while surrounded by the beckoning glint of the Caribbean sea. Francophones and French-speakers will find this trip appealing for the ability to speak in French throughout much of the journey. There is also an airport in Castries which can connect you easily to South American destinations, as well as Miami or the Mexican Riviera, including Cancun, Playa del Carmen, Cozumel and Tulum. No matter where you choose to go from St. Lucia or how you plan to arrive, make sure you keep that book of Walcott poems close at all times.