# The Mapping Poet > Generated by All in One SEO v5.0.2.1, this is an llms.txt file, used by LLMs to index the site. Mapping moments, patterns, and places not always drawn. ## Sitemaps - [XML Sitemap](https://themappingpoet.com/sitemap.xml): Contains all public & indexable URLs for this website. ## Posts - [The Year I Started Making Vanilla Extract](https://themappingpoet.com/the-year-i-started-making-vanilla-extract/): Sometimes curiosity begins in the grocery store. I'll be standing in the baking aisle with a recipe in one hand and a tiny bottle of vanilla extract in the other, wondering how something so small can cost twenty dollars. As it turns out, the answer is surprisingly simple. Real vanilla extract is, at its heart, - [Mount Trashmore](https://themappingpoet.com/mount-trashmore/): A geographical oddity. Most places try to hide what they once were. This one doesn’t. Mount Trashmore is exactly what it sounds like: piles of trash transformed into a park. A big hill, a smaller hill, a few lakes, walking paths, playgrounds, and open green space stitched together where garbage once collected. On paper, it - [The Witch of Pungo](https://themappingpoet.com/the-witch-of-pungo/): In Virginia Beach, Virginia, there is a road called North Witchduck Road. The name stirs the imagination—some strange bird, perhaps, with a plumage so wild it earned such a title. But that isn’t the case at all. It isn’t a type of duck. It comes instead from the practice of ducking—and not the kind Jeep owners - [The Found Object](https://themappingpoet.com/the-found-object/): If you grew up in North Carolina, you might remember this from childhood. One of the assignments in middle school was to collect, identify, and preserve tree leaves in a binder. Little did I know at the time, this simple project would have a subtle impact on my life. The collection of leaves needed for - [May I](https://themappingpoet.com/may-i/): Can I go to the bathroom… You may.Can I go to the store… You may. May I ask you to read on? There’s something about it.“May” carries a certain tone. A kind of polish that feels almost out of place in everyday conversation. It brings to mind a classroom, with a teacher gently correcting, or - [The Origins of a Mapping Poet](https://themappingpoet.com/the-origins-of-a-mapping-poet/): It was an ordinary workday, and I was using Google Maps to look up street names and waterways for a project. Google Maps opens to your current location, and as I was about to zoom out, I noticed a Turkish coffee psychic reader near my office. My curiosity was piqued. I had visited a few ## Pages - [Home](https://themappingpoet.com/): Not all maps are drawn.Some are discovered in places, moments...and the spaces between. The First Map I ever CarriedI was once asked in an interview:What is your favorite building?I answered, “The Bank of America Building in Charlotte, North Carolina.”The interviewer sneered.“It looks like a giant asparagus.”He asked what else.I said, “The Smithsonian Building in Washington, - [About](https://themappingpoet.com/about-2/): About Hi, My name is Ian. and I'm the Mapping Poet. I have spent much of my life in geography and cartography.Maps, to me, have always been more than tools.They hold direction.They hold memory.In our own lives, we carry maps of a different kind—the route to somewhere familiar,the pull of a place we haven’t returned - [Curiosities](https://themappingpoet.com/curiosities/): Curiosities Odds and Wonders Things found, made, tried, and discovered. - [Field Notes](https://themappingpoet.com/field-notes/): Field Notes These are just not places. They are moments, patterns, and fragments of a larger map still being drawn. - [The Door Opens](https://themappingpoet.com/the-door-opens/): You found your way here. In a world that moves quickly, I appreciate anyone willing to pause long enough to read the thoughts of a cartographer chasing meaning through places, memories, and moments that refuse to be forgotten. Thank you for joining me. — Ian - [Privacy Policy](https://themappingpoet.com/privacy-policy/): Who we are The Mapping Poet is a personal website and writing project created by Ian Chapman. Website address:https://themappingpoet.com Information Collected This website may collect limited technical information such as browser type, cookies, or anonymous analytics data to help improve the site experience and performance. If you voluntarily contact The Mapping Poet through email or ## MailPoet Page - [MailPoet Page](https://themappingpoet.com/?mailpoet_page=subscriptions): [mailpoet_page] - [MailPoet Page](https://themappingpoet.com/?mailpoet_page=captcha): [mailpoet_page] ## Categories - [Field Notes](https://themappingpoet.com/category/field-notes/) - [Curiosities](https://themappingpoet.com/category/curiosities/) ## Tags - [Origins](https://themappingpoet.com/tag/origins/) - [Identity](https://themappingpoet.com/tag/identity/) - [Creativity](https://themappingpoet.com/tag/creativity/) - [Cartography](https://themappingpoet.com/tag/cartography/) - [Purpose](https://themappingpoet.com/tag/purpose/) - [Reflection](https://themappingpoet.com/tag/reflection/) - [Stillness](https://themappingpoet.com/tag/stillness/) - [Questions](https://themappingpoet.com/tag/questions/) - [Vulnerability](https://themappingpoet.com/tag/vulnerability/) - [Human Connection](https://themappingpoet.com/tag/human-connection/) - [Nostalgia](https://themappingpoet.com/tag/nostalgia/) - [Objects](https://themappingpoet.com/tag/objects/) - [Memory](https://themappingpoet.com/tag/memory/) - [Meaning](https://themappingpoet.com/tag/meaning/) - [Virginia Beach](https://themappingpoet.com/tag/virginia-beach/) - [Folklore](https://themappingpoet.com/tag/folklore/) - [Mystery](https://themappingpoet.com/tag/mystery/) - [Local Lore](https://themappingpoet.com/tag/local-lore/) - [Thresholds](https://themappingpoet.com/tag/thresholds/) - [Transformation](https://themappingpoet.com/tag/transformation/) - [Landscape](https://themappingpoet.com/tag/landscape/) - [Observation](https://themappingpoet.com/tag/observation/) - [Vanilla](https://themappingpoet.com/tag/vanilla/) - [Bean](https://themappingpoet.com/tag/bean/) - [Homemade](https://themappingpoet.com/tag/homemade/)