Delmarva Review: In the Distance by Diane Thiel

Author’s Note: “‘In the Distance’ speaks to the idea that we might travel in order to get distance from something, perhaps a past in need of healing, but that the story will follow close behind. The unnamed “unrelenting story” in the poem might pursue us full circle, even circumnavigate the globe. But on a hopeful note, the expansive nature of travel does allow one to experience the world differently and perhaps see things with new eyes, toward a different end.”

In the Distance

We can only travel so far in one direction
before we’re back where we began,
due in part to the spherical
nature of things. It is less about
the distance than the history

we are carrying with us when we go,
and I’ve gone enough distance
by now to know that traveling
the myths, crossroads,
unmarked trails—all of it,

might be about finding her
a different kind of distance,
might be about telling that
unrelenting story
with a different end.

♦

Diane Thiel is the author of eleven books of poetry and nonfiction, including Echolocations and Resistance Fantasies. Her new book of poetry, Questions from Outer Space, is forthcoming from Red Hen Press and reviewed in the current edition of the Delmarva Review. Her honors include PEN, NEA, and Fulbright Awards. She is a Regents’ Professor at the University of New Mexico and Associate Chair of the Department of English. With her husband and four children, Thiel has traveled and lived in Europe, South America, Asia, and Australia, working on literary and environmental projects. Website: www.dianethiel.net.

Delmarva Review, Volume 14, publishes new poetry, fiction, and nonfiction from seventy authors that stood out from thousands of submissions during the year. The nonprofit review is available in print and digital editions from Amazon.com and other online booksellers, as well as from regional specialty bookstores.