A physical journey brings inner growth and development from the experiences a person encounters from a physical transition from one place to another. All physical journeys include obstacles and hardships however they also involve emotional and spiritual journeys along the way. Peter Skrzynecki’s poems “Postcard” and “Crossing The Red Sea” are both examples of an emotional journey within a physical journey. A feature article ‘A Desert Odyssey’ reported by Sue Williams and Robert Frost’s poem ‘The Road Not Taken’ also involve emotional journeys within a physical journey.
‘Postcard’ is a poem by Skrzynecki about the arrival of a postcard for his parents. As Skrzynecki’s culture is different from his parents, as he is Australian and they are Polish, this poem represents an emotional journey and a promised physical journey to come. The title ‘Postcard’ is a connotation as the readers first thoughts of a postcard as being an insignificant event, however this is juxtaposed by the intense emotional journey that can be brought about by something small and seemingly unimportant shown throughout the entire poem.
“A postcard sent by a friend/Haunts me” are the first lines of the first stanza in the poem which is an immediate and intense start to the poem which juxtaposes the title ‘Postcard’ and shows that the postcard has had an immediate emotional impact by receiving the postcard.
The poem is significant however as it represents Skrzynecki’s parents culture, by showing a picture of Warsaw, the capital of Poland on the front. This is what effects Skrzynecki the most as it is symbolic for showing Skrzynecki feels outcast to his parents. The personification “Warsaw, Old Town; I never knew you” demonstrates the outcast feeling Skrzynecki has towards Warsaw as he speaks to the postcard in 2nd person, also showing he has nothing in common with the place. Repetition of “I never knew you” also shows the