Highway Haiku 3

Orange hued collage with the words of the haiku overlaid in patchy black ink

above the headlights

moonlight bathes white stucco

offices pink

Found a stack of old Thomas Guide Map books in my father’s garage a few years ago and didn’t have the heart to throw them out (or in the recycling). They represent a less intrusive, analog type of way-finding. At least in my family, it was also a rite of passage to receive your first Thomas Guide Map book of Los Angeles County when you got your driver’s license. I fondly remember sitting in the car with high school friends and looking up a street in the massive index and having to note down the page number and grid location (“…okay, La Cienega and Centinela is page 234, G6”). My nostalgia means I now have a stack of outdated Thomas Guides weighing down the bottom of my bookshelf. I figured at least I could try to make some art with them…perfect for a highway haiku!

5 comments

  1. Yes, I have a fondness for paper maps, too. The “big picture” helps me navigate. If i only know what the next step is, I’m completely disoriented and dependent on the system. I love your collage, and am wondering if you have an ancient spirograph, too. (Was that what it was called?)

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  2. We had several map books in the car for years. I would still rather use a paper map. You know you’re going somewhere when you see that route all laid out before you. And I love the haiku. What an evocative image.

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    1. Thank you, Claudia. Me too – I still have one map book in my car in case my phone battery dies or I’m in a spot in the desert with no reception. When I used to use paper maps regularly, though, I felt like I understood how cities were laid out better – the apps on the phone are so narrow, you never learn how one place connects to another.

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      1. If I know I am going somewhere that I want an overview – I still buy that map. I do love maps, always have. To me they are the glamor of travel and I am the bird flying over the land.

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