“In Baghdad, Dreaming of Cairo; In Cairo, Dreaming of Baghdad” - Ryan Hinton

     In the poem "In Baghdad, Dreaming of Cairo; In Cairo, Dreaming of Baghdad", an individual who I believe is named Rumi remarks about his journey between the cities of Baghdad and Cairo. When we first covered this poem at the beginning of the semester, I honestly had no idea what to make of it despite the fact that we spent several classes on it and dissecting its meaning. I remember being a little confused by the idea of planting your flag, because how would planting your help you on your journey from one city to another? However, now being able to look back at this reading with all the knowledge I have gained from this semester, I think it represents something of a labyrinth. In the story, the man goes to Cairo to get lots of riches but upon reaching Cairo realizes that everything he wanted was actually in his old home. I kinda like to think of this as a labyrinth because Rumi went to Cairo, had a big journey, reached the destination and then had to retrace his steps and went home back the way he had came. I think it's really interesting when I think about it this way because it relates to Christianna and her idea about spontaneity. She said that she hiked the Camino on a whim and Rumi went to Cairo on a whim. As such, I think it's a really good representation of what Christianna was talking about with the whole idea of Maze vs. Labyrinth. 

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