In the summer of 2021, Anthony Caruso was commissioned to direct a short film that took place in Lancaster, Pennsylvania—a short adaptation of the opening sequence of the play "Our Town", by Thorton Wilder. (This short is available on YouTube and is titled "Your Town.") On location in Lancaster Anthony took a camera and filmed his own footage around this small city in the middle of the state, and he will be making a short video piece with his findings. To accompany it, I wrote this poem to be used as voice over to the video. This poem is a reflections on the imagined process, the place, and how the pandemic continues to shape our perceptions of cities, towns, and ourselves.
There is a street, a straight street.
There is an avenue, it is a venue, a place
For gathering, for taking in and giving out
For knowing, gaining knowledge
For shedding or embracing ignorance.
There is another street, a winding street
One lane encompasses, another lane comprises
And there are highways, ways to height
Ways that work against diminished effort,
Move us from senescence into sedentary, then
To necessary movement.
There is a road, a road I follow
To constructions I have built
Erections that I comprehend
Confound all expectations.
I vilify their non-emergent energies
Striking chords of discourse and disdain.
Where is the road, the highway, the route?
Where is the lane, the street, the river?
Where will I know, intuit, divine?
What will appear around that corner?
Does it lurk? Does it wait in hope?
Does it forbear? Does it foretell?
Can I know what I know?
When? Where? How?
And most of all Why?