Project Proposal

I have lived in DC for my entire life.  However, I feel as though I have not often taken a moment to appreciate my surroundings; the past, present, and in some cases, the personal connection that I share to a place or landmark.  For my final project, I am planning on compiling a set of poems that I will have written around DC.  The places that I intend to visit are fundamentally random; I do not intend to go to every monument on the mall and write a poem while there I am there, but rather take time to appreciate some of the less popular locations in the city – certain buildings (I’ve always thought that the convention center was cool), parks (there are so many unique areas), maybe the role that water plays in dividing the district from Virginia.   For some of these poems, I will predictively choose a location to write about, and will consequently take time to go visit it, but I also plan on writing about settings that I did not deliberately choose.  I think that this is particularly important, because in these specific situations, I will have to make myself take time to appreciate my surroundings.  I anticipate that in some way these settings will inspire me, so I do not plan on exclusively writing descriptive poetry about the scene – I want my experience growing up in and around the city to inform my poetry, so in a sense, I anticipate to write in a bit of stream of consciousness.