Edjane Harris comes from Brazil, has worked in Senegal and now lives in Thailand. She paints and teaches dance, Spanish and English. Read her poem. Pretend you are the speaker and say it aloud. Do you agree with what the speaker says about language and travel?

Double-click on any word and see its definition from Cambridge Dictionaries Online.

After reading the poem, try some writing.

To Travel

I want to travel,
To see new places,
To enjoy myself,
To go here and there,
To tell my friends
How many countries I know.
But I don't want to learn,
I don't want the work
Of learning new languages,
To communicate with people.
What I really want is to travel.
And when I come back
My friends will ask me
How was my trip,
I will answer "wonderful"!
I saw churches and museums
That I don't know the names of,
I had a drink with someone
Whom I couldn't speak with,
I had a guide book
Which I couldn't read.
So I stayed in the hotel
Wondering how wonderful it is
To be abroad.

Edjane Harris


With kind permission of the poet, previously published in Poetry As A Foreign Language edited by Martin Bates, White Adder Press 1999.

Your turn

Here are three ideas to get you thinking, talking and writing about the poem To Travel in English.

1 The speaker comes to your town with a camera. What places should they visit to take photos? Back home, the speaker shows the photos to friends, boasting about the "wonderful" trip. Can you write a few lines: a dialogue between the speaker and friends about the places and people in the photos.

2 After the first trip, the speaker decides it is worth learning new languages after all. Imagine that the speaker comes back to your country but this time they can speak your language. Take the speaker to your favourite place and talk about it. Then write a few lines: the speaker compares this visit with the last one.

3 What impression do you get of the speaker from the poem? (You can read it again first if you like.)

(a) I admire the way the speaker talks and agree that their experience was "wonderful".
(b) I feel outraged at the way the speaker insults my language and my culture.
(c) I feel that the poem is ironic and the boasting is hollow; I could say to the speaker: "More fool you!"

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