While part of me feels a pull to "conclude" here, I don't know that I want to get into a long interpretation here about what I think these poems mean and what the different experiences and success rates at each site signify in my opinion. Throughout this process and particularly now that I am sharing the project, I have been acutely aware of my position as a white Yale student who is new to this city; I feel uncomfortable proposing a conclusion about this community and certainly do NOT intend to remedy any of its problems. Moreover, I would like this work to remain artistic, experimental, and process-oriented, rather than a procedure geared toward concrete sociological ends (although social science ideas did in part inspire the project). So, for the purposes of this blog, I'd like to let the work and the documentation speak for itself, to the degree that it says anything at all.
The other reason that I don't want to tie up the ends is that I'd like the process to continue. I've been brainstorming, with the help of others, ways to make these poems public in an unannounced but highly visible way that echoes the presentation of initial displays. I also feel that it would be unfortunate -- and for me, anticlimatic -- if the project ended with just a declaration of the works. I hope to find a way for people to respond to what they see or hear, be this response related to New Haven or something else entirely. Maybe there's a way for these poems to be launching pads for the creation of new poems or extensions of the existing ones. Maybe they will inspire the creation of something else entirely. I'll be thinking. If you want to think on this as well, I would welcome your ideas so gladly.
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