The furthest distances I've travelled

Structure

• Quatrains written in irregular meter, creating a liberating and free-flowing restlessness that mimics the unpredictability of her former nomadic lifestyle. This could reflect the vicissitudes of back-packing, and spasmodic nature of transport and journeying. However, this break from formal poetic constraints could simultaneously signify a mind that is excited and restless 

• Combination of full and half-rhymes enforces a sense of routine and predictability of the present monotony  

• Enjambment between lines merges her memories into a homogenous mass, artificially forcing the rhymes  

‘Like many folk, when I first settled a backpack’ 

• A dichotomy is created in the opening line between relatability and unrelatability. It appears that the speaker attempts to formulate familiarity and common ground with the reader, by suggesting she is ‘like many folk’. (use of ‘folk’ as a colloquialism to establish a stronger poetic bond with the reader)
  However, this is juxtaposed by the cowboy or equestrian imagery of ‘saddl(ing) the rucksack’, which is unconventional – perhaps suggesting the speaker’s experience is unusual in some way 

attunes readers to the emotional journey or change that she is about to undergo

 ‘Curved it under like a meridian’  

• Northern/southern hemispheres  

• Physical alteration of the body, almost a reanimation to suggest that travelling can be life changing  

• This simile conflates the speaker’s body and her travels, suggesting that they have become one, and she derives her own identity from these experiences - just as time is derived from the meridian. Entwinement of her identity and travel 

‘I thought: Yes. This is how to live’ 

• ‘:Yes’ is a medial caesura that disrupts the rhythmic flow of the line, foregrounding the speaker’s moment of self-realisation. ‘Yes’ is a minor and declarative sentence, where this short syntax imbues it with decisiveness and a lack of hesitation. Additionally, the colloquial simplicity of the diction ‘this is how to live’ rejects ornate or reflective language, suggesting instinctive spontaneity rather than rational response 

• The enjambment between ‘this is how/to live’ renders the border of the line fluid to rhythmically embody her freedom of a moving and flowing life - she is unstressed and unrestrained. This enjambment propels the poem forward, mirroring the speaker’s constant movement from one destination to another 

• An emphatic and excited statement attests the joy she derives from her travelling, capturing the idealism of youth 

‘Krakow’ ‘Zagreb’ ‘Siberian white’ 

• The juxtaposition created through listing disparate countries explores her journey across the world, contrasting physical geography, cities etc  

• The quick succession of their listing means that the subject of the poem only lingers briefly on each place, establishing them as individual heterotopias – transitory and temporary places 

• The language is and syntax is spare and short, where the towns and regions are listed as significant without needing explanation. This holophrasis introduces a sense of mystery or intrigue around the locations, as ‘Krakow’ could elucidate Auschwitz and Nazi Germany to some, but could simultaneously be romanticised as an old market city to others. 

‘Tannoy’ ‘anonymity’ ‘destiny’  

• These are half rhymes, suggesting an incompleteness, and a lack of belonging through these cultural experiences 

• The word ‘anonymity is split across two lines, creating a momentary feeling of uneasiness – a disruption that not only reflects her restless energy, but also highlights her inner fragmentation and disorientating nature of her travels 

‘Holidaying briefly’ 

• A pleonasm, stating the obvious 

• Emphasises the brevity of her relationships, that she is constantly moving on and lacks emotional connections that last  

• This explores emotional and psychological travel between people, as opposed to physical travel between countries  

‘The furthest distances I’ve travelled have been between people’ 

• Flynn closes with a profound statement redefining the speaker’s understanding of ‘distance’, transforming geographical travel into an exploration of emotional and relational separation, suggesting that the most significant journeys are not spatial but psychological 

• The pace of the poem slows and adopts a more mediative tone, reflecting the speaker’s maturity. The superlative ‘furthest’ amplifies the weight of the speaker’s emotions and internal introspection, where the past perfect tense ‘I’ve travelled’ signifies this is retrospective. 

• The final stanza adopts a regular rhythm, with two pairs of rhyming couplets providing conclusion and resolution. The end stopped line at the end of this marks a rare moment of stillness in the poem, symbolically settling after the flux of movement 

‘Tiny stowaway pressed flower’ 

• The flower becomes symbolic of her travels and vibrant life, however the effect of this personified as a ‘stowaway’ and hiding could suggest that this part of her life has been similarly buried or stowed away. Poignant image 

• What were once significant travels have less importance now, diminished to only a ‘tiny... flower’ hidden amongst her laundry.  

• The flower itself is diminutive in size and fragile, emphasising that for Flynn, importance lies not in the objects themselves, but instead in the memories and experiences that they represent