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Walking the Fault Line

In Mojave Ghost, Forrest Gander recounts his 800-mile journey into the slow time of grief.

Walking the Fault Line

Walking the Fault Line

In the summer of 1790, the renowned American poet William Wordsworth embarked on a long walking journey that stretched across revolutionary France, over the Swiss Alps, into Italy, and then through Germany before returning to England. Unfortunately, the delay in his travels led him to arrive late for the start of term and he failed to distinguish himself in his final exams at Cambridge University.

Fast forward to the late 1980s, and Canadian poet and classicist Anne Carson took on her own journey, walking the iconic route to Compostela from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port in Roncesvalles. This 500-mile pilgrimage, culminating at Finisterre, inspired Carson to reflect on the idea of pilgrims as people who love a good riddle.

In 1689, Japanese poet Matsuo Bashō made a pilgrimage of his own, walking over 1,500 miles through forests, mountains, and coastlines. His journey, which took him through villages and temples along the Sea of Japan, led to his creation of Oku no Hosomichi (The Narrow Road to the Interior), a work that remains a cornerstone of Japanese literature.

In 2021, American poet Forrest Gander began his journey along the 800-mile stretch of the San Andreas Fault, traveling from the north to the south. Accompanied by South Asian artist Ashwini Bhat, Gander was drawn to the desolate town of Barstow, California, where he was born. His experiences and musings along the way culminated in his book Mojave Ghost (2024), a novel poem capturing the essence of this unique exploration.

One of the foremost practitioners of go as both a physical and poetic journey, Gander's work highlights the transformative power of walking. His writings, starting with Deeds of Utmost Kindness (1994), explore the deep connection between the human experience and the act of walking. In his 2004 poetic essay A Poetic Essay on Creation, Evolution, and Imagination, Gander reflects on the Laetoli footprints—showing that early hominids were bipedal long before they developed tool-making skills or evolved larger brains.

Gander's poetic exploration of the world through walking continues, such as in his collection Core Samples from the World (2011), where he retraces Bashō’s famous journey, linking his own travels across China, Mexico, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Chile, and the U.S. in a series of haibun. For Gander, walking is not just an act but a fundamental practice of discovery, both personal and universal.

While Gander's walk along the San Andreas fault might seem daunting to most, it represents a personal pilgrimage into the heart of the land he was born in—a land defined by seismic shifts and shifts in memory. The San Andreas fault itself stretches from the Pacific Ocean near Eureka, California, to the arid Salton Sea in the south, passing through a varied terrain that is not easily traversed. Yet for Gander, walking along this fault line is a necessary act of connection, contemplation, and poetic inquiry.

Whether walking through deserts, forests, or cities, these poets continue to use walking as a way to explore the human experience, offering a unique perspective on both the internal and external landscapes. Walking, in their eyes, is not just a form of transportation, but a creative practice of engagement with the world around us.

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