When I drove my daughter to her friend’s new place
in the Adelaide Hills
she turned on her phone’s GPS system
as we took
one branching road, then another,
scores of roads branching up, down, across
that went on for miles
deeper & deeper
into
the dark woods
& you said, we’re getting closer, only a few miles now
& I said,
Christ, how do they ever find their way out of here
each morning
& you laughed
but eventually we found it, we got there.
You be okay finding your way out, dad without the GPS?
& I said, sure, how hard can it be?
then I took off
winding my way back and forth
for miles,
there were so many possibilities,
almost running out of fuel & patience
till I stumbled upon multiple forks any of which looked good
so I took one
& that’s when I learnt the difference between
a labyrinth and maze:
a maze is multicursal [ many branches] while a labyrinth
is unicursal [one branch].
I was in a maze.
A labyrinth is easier.
- pic courtesy of pinterest
John Malone 
As this has no end sounds like you’re still stuck in the maze………or is there a follow-on?
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hopefully not. Don: I got out 🙂 though I don’t make this clear in the poem; this may need a rewrite; ummmm 🙂
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Sounds like put it in neutral and let gravity roll you down home……
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actually that’s not far off the mark; I kept following the main roads that led down to the plains 🙂
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That was a good strategy……also petrol stations on main roads….a doubly good strategy…..
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To funny glad you found your way without the breadcrumbs.
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ROFL : love the reference 🙂 very clever
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😬
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Shoulda been easy for you, John. Everybody knows that mazes are easier to solve, if you start at the finish and work your way back to the start. Your daughter had already gotten you to the destination.
Try it with the maze in your illustration.
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thanks, I will; once my head unwinds from yesterday 🙂
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My GPS is both unicursed,
and multicursed 😵 🕶️
To turn, or not to turn …
my GPS will still get me lost?
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that is so funny, David: that is ROFL taken up another notch: I don’t even know if there’s an acronym for that 🙂
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Now that you mention it, John,
when I complain directly to the
GPS, it just flashes up … WTF❗
And being off course, the wife
will duly point out that it’s my
fault, of course 🤔 🕶️
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what can one do, David? sometimes we get entangled in the twine of our own word play 🙂
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Like a kitten, with bad directions,
who’s lost its mittens 🐱 🕶️
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“amazing”, what would the minotaurs have to say to that?
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now, I checked up on that one; the Minotaur was locked in a labyrinthine because it is unicursal —only one entrance/exit whereas a maze is multicursal: too many exits to keep the Minotaur within
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i so get this, i have an uncanny knack for not finding my way, a lack of a sense of direction, but somehow i always eventually end up where i’m meant to be in the end
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thank you, Beth; we both have a homing instinct 🙂
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Don’t forget there’s always constructing wings to get a birds-eye view. Just be sure to not get too close to the sun. 🙂
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🙂 as a kid in my dreams I was Peter Pan flying over the ‘burbs’ , over the ocean like an albatross; I was never an Icarus 🙂
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I can see you now. 🙂 the souls of the sailors that die at sea fly away as albatross. …legend says. What fun dreams, John. Where would you go now if you could take to the skies?
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ummm very good question: I’m going to have to get back to you on that one : possible material for a post — I haven’t got one for tomorrow yet 🙂 where would you go?
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My “Soul Vacation” poem is about where my spirit would go…I think I’d let my heart decide in the moment the wings were finished. She often knows best, and I’ve learned to trust her.
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Even with a GPS, some routes are amazeingly difficult to navigate.
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in this case they were accurate though the announcer’s voice was loud and bossy; my daughter ‘translated’ it for me: either way, I was glad I never had the GPS on the way home 🙂
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Good old GPS eh. Not many of us left who can still read a map!
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a lost art, like handwriting, Hobbo, learning poems by heart, calligraphy 🙂
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…walking, and talking…we could go on🙂
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we could, Hobbo , but let’s not 🙂 I’m hitting the sack so I’m young and fresh to appreciate Dauphy’s poem in the morning 🙂
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have a sound sleep..🙂
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Hi John, I loved this. 🥰
Even the shape of your poem weaved around in the maze. I’m glad you made it home. 🙂
eden
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for a while there I thought I might have to request a search party 🙂
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Hahah!
Glad it didn’t have to come to that.
I’m directionally challenged, so if I ever tell you to head north, make sure you go south. If I say east, go west, young man. 😉
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🙂 I’ll keep that in mind 🙂
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You don’t need a GPS. It is easy. Take to the right and you’ll be right. Take to the left and you’ll be left! Glad you made it home.
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thanks Ulle: I’ll remember your sage advice next time I’m lost in the Adelaide Hills 🙂
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I now find myself highly intrigued by the difference between a maze and a labyrinth.
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it is a fascinating topic — until you find yourself lost in one 🙂 fortunately there are no Minotaurs in mazes 🙂
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Sound advice as ever, John! And of course I tried the maze in the image.
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I hoped you got out okay, Matthew; by the time I got out of the Adelaide Hills I was quite done with mazes; a labyrinth any time 🙂
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