Poems from the road

Books & Poetry

On-the-road reflections are the subject of this week’s Poet’s Corner contributions from Alice White.

Wednesday June 20, 2018

Print article

Freeway

Mark yearns for Polish forests.
Danielle misses the beeches of France.
I want Yorkshire oaks and moors.
So we drive the freeways
heads filled with trees
while the empty sky
floods our eyes.

Freeway Footbridge

Twilight, a dust cloud of gold.
A man leans on a grey rainbow of
railings that blister with speed.
Cars divide in some courtly dance and
the one thing living is the one thing still.

Freeway Freedom

Posting the terrible free novel
out of the bus window on a rainy day.
Lying on my back in the forest
giggling after throwing sticks at a tree.
Finishing off a bottle of wine
at three in the afternoon in Sheffield.
Knowing I can forget your jokes
because you’ll make me laugh tomorrow.
Telling stories to my sister.
Driving with Helena in a pink open top Morris
with a horseshoe on the prow.

Alice White lives in Melbourne. With a masters degree in educational management and change, she is currently on leave from teaching at Wantirna College, where she was the Head of English and Literacy. She has presented seminars on topics including fiction, poetry and Shakespeare in general at schools and the Victorian Association for the Teaching of English conferences. She has had her poetry published in various literary journals and anthologies, and in the Ginninderra Press chapbook ‘Heartstricken’, jointly with Nicholas Hamer-Smith.

Readers’ original and unpublished poems of up to 40 lines can be emailed, with postal address, to poetscorner@solsticemedia.com.au. Submissions should be in the body of the email, not as attachments. A poetry book will be awarded to each accepted contributor.

Make a comment View comment guidelines

Jump to next article

Support local arts journalism

Your support will help us continue the important work of InReview in publishing free professional journalism that celebrates, interrogates and amplifies arts and culture in South Australia.

Donate Here

. You are free to republish the text and graphics contained in this article online and in print, on the condition that you follow our republishing guidelines.

You must attribute the author and note prominently that the article was originally published by InReview. You must also inlude a link to InReview. Please note that images are not generally included in this creative commons licence as in most cases we are not the copyright owner. However, if the image has an InReview photographer credit or is marked as “supplied”, you are free to republish it with the appropriate credits.

We recommend you set the canonical link of this content to https://inreview.com.au/inreview/books-and-poetry/2018/06/20/poems-from-the-road/ to insure that your SEO is not penalised.

<h1>Poems from the road</h1>

<p><p>On-the-road reflections are the subject of this week’s Poet’s Corner contributions from Alice White.</p>
</p>
																		<address><a href="https://inreview.com.au/contributors/compiled-by-john-miles/" class="author">Compiled by John Miles</a></address>
											
							<h2><a href="#freeway" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="freeway"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a><strong>Freeway</strong></h2>
<p>Mark yearns for Polish forests.<br />
Danielle misses the beeches of France.<br />
I want Yorkshire oaks and moors.<br />
So we drive the freeways<br />
heads filled with trees<br />
while the empty sky<br />
floods our eyes.</p>
<h2><a href="#freeway-footbridge" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="freeway-footbridge"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a><strong>Freeway Footbridge</strong></h2>
<p>Twilight, a dust cloud of gold.<br />
A man leans on a grey rainbow of<br />
railings that blister with speed.<br />
Cars divide in some courtly dance and<br />
the one thing living is the one thing still.</p>
<h2><a href="#freeway-freedom" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="freeway-freedom"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a><strong>Freeway Freedom</strong></h2>
<p>Posting the terrible free novel<br />
out of the bus window on a rainy day.<br />
Lying on my back in the forest<br />
giggling after throwing sticks at a tree.<br />
Finishing off a bottle of wine<br />
at three in the afternoon in Sheffield.<br />
Knowing I can forget your jokes<br />
because you’ll make me laugh tomorrow.<br />
Telling stories to my sister.<br />
Driving with Helena in a pink open top Morris<br />
with a horseshoe on the prow.</p>
<p><strong><em>Alice White</em></strong><em> lives in Melbourne. With a masters degree in educational management and change, she is currently on leave from teaching at Wantirna College, where she was the Head of English and Literacy. She has presented seminars on topics including fiction, poetry and Shakespeare in general at schools and the Victorian Association for the Teaching of English conferences. She has had her poetry published in various literary journals and anthologies, and in the Ginninderra Press chapbook ‘Heartstricken’, jointly with Nicholas Hamer-Smith.</em></p>
<h5><a href="#readers-original-and-unpublished-poems-of-up-to-40-lines-can-be-emailed-with-postal-address-to-poetscornersolsticemedia-com-au-submissions-should-be-in-the-body-of-the-email-not-as-attac" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="readers-original-and-unpublished-poems-of-up-to-40-lines-can-be-emailed-with-postal-address-to-poetscornersolsticemedia-com-au-submissions-should-be-in-the-body-of-the-email-not-as-attac"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>Readers’ original and unpublished poems of up to 40 lines can be emailed, with postal address, to poetscorner@solsticemedia.com.au. Submissions should be in the body of the email, not as attachments. A poetry book will be awarded to each accepted contributor.</h5>
							<p>This article is republished from <a href="https://inreview.com.au" target=_blank  rel="canonical">InReview</a> under a Creative Commons licence. Read the <a href="https://inreview.com.au/inreview/books-and-poetry/2018/06/20/poems-from-the-road/" target=_blank  rel="canonical">original article</a>.</p>
							<link href="https://inreview.com.au/inreview/books-and-poetry/2018/06/20/poems-from-the-road/" rel="canonical">

<p><a href="https://inreview.com.au" target="_blank" rel="noopener">InReview</a> is an open access, non-profit arts and culture journalism project. Readers can <a href="https://artists.australianculturalfund.org.au/s/project/a2E9q0000008PVN/inreview-sa-20222023" target="_blank" rel="noopener">support our work with a donation</a>. Subscribe to InReview’s free weekly newsletter <a href="https://inreview.com.au/subscribe/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>.</p>
							<img src="https://inreview.com.au/pixel2.png?cc_article=poems-from-the-road" width="1" height="1">

Copied to Clipboard

Freeway

Freeway Footbridge

Freeway Freedom

Readers’ original and unpublished poems of up to 40 lines can be emailed, with postal address, to poetscorner@solsticemedia.com.au. Submissions should be in the body of the email, not as attachments. A poetry book will be awarded to each accepted contributor.

Support local arts journalism

It's true blue, it's dinky-di - it's our history told in our lingo

Diary of a Book Addict: For the sake of the children

Poems: Sights of spring

A heart-woofing tale, designed and told by Gucci