On (Not) Becoming a Travel Writer - A Poem

In my writing group the other night we did a poetry exercise, which lead to a whole evening of poetry writing. Collectively, we don't really know much about poetry, but we all agreed it was pretty free-form. With poetry fresh in my mind I wrote this poem during lunch today.

On (Not) Becoming a Travel Writer

A Poem by Ann H. Vinciguerra

I wanted to become a travel writer, so I headed to Ljubljana to become inspired

Try to capture the essence of a place they said

So I strolled fabled sun dappled streets

Filled with cobbled stones, stately squares, and statuesque statues

I walked along the river

Meandering as it meandered

I got lost in alleys that time forgot

But the really special people of this place helped me find my way

Cozy cellar bars shared passageways with boutique bistros

Libations at trendy clubs followed authentic home cooked meals

The lodging? Cozy

The atmosphere? Romantic

Lovers announced their love on bridges with locks

Describes what makes a place special I’ve been told

There was a castle on a hill!

Dragons perched on splendid bridges!

Fabled and wondrous and precious

It was all so carefully curated

I easily found ten things you absolutely must-do on your trip to Ljubljana. I can’t wait to tell you about them

I was bombarded with the essence of it

It was love

Ljubljana was flawless

It had all of the right ingredients

Ljubljana is a mini Prague

Ljubljana is the Paris of the East

A Paradise in the Balkans

The European capital of (low-key and up-n-coming) cool

Upon arriving home I was eager to write about it, but when I tried to spill my words out onto the page, I was no longer sure I wanted to become a travel writer