two weeks ago we were stuck in the plains
somewhere in the midwest with no service. you pulled out
some 1999 AAA member's map and said
"crack it open," and i still loved you, even then. words flowed
out of my mouth like gasoline at the pump, above all
i wondered to you out loud what it would have been like
for us to star in a 90's coming of age film.
everything hazy, color-graded pale yellow,
back before google maps even existed.
before we were scared to trailblaze,
when we took wrong turns, solved
our own problems, traced our own new paths
with fingertips throbbing with life, blue-green and red.
Comments
It's wild how reliant we've all come to be on GPS services and Google maps, or rather, it's wild to think of it any other way. I was born in the early 90s, so passed through the transitional phase of MapQuest too, but can still vaguely picture the old country roadmaps that used to live in our old Subi. But reading them... what a lost skill. I've often daydreamed about what you daydream about, and long for that bygone era I suppose I never truly experienced as an adult either -- a cellphoneless era when you could actually find yourself lost in this world, and had only yourself to rely on to find your way back home. It sounds quaint, now. Anyway, beautiful writing, beautiful piece.
i am glad to hear that we feel the same way! sometimes it sounds so silly but i really do love the name MapQuest: the inclusion of "Quest" somehow preserves that spirit of adventure for me, though i know it's much the same as Google Maps. thank you for the lovely comment: i hope we can both find that same feeling of organically navigating and working hard to find our way!
"Words flowed/ out of my mouth like gasoline at the pump..." This is brilliant and very relatable! Sometimes when I'm walking down the road I wonder what it would be like to suddenly leap into a neighbors yard --- move through the squares instead of only along the lines.
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