On a visit to the Revolving Museum, I saw some poetry scrolls that had just be completed and were ready to be put on display. A poetry scroll is a sealed glass-fronted box containing a paper scroll in which poetry is written. The viewer can turn a handle on the outside of the box to see the poetry in a continuous loop.
These poetry scrolls are public art, placed in Lucy Larcom Park along the canal that bisects the Lowell High School campus, running from Merrimack Street up to Father Morrisette Boulevard. Since I hadn’t had a chance to inspect any of the scroll boxes closely, I was eager to see them on display. I’m sorry to report, I was disappointed in the curation of this project.
Rather than being installed along the length of the park, the scroll boxes are huddled at the Merrimack Street end. This arrangement does not relate well to the space, or to the nature of poetry. While placing the scrolls in proximity to one another does lead the viewer from one scroll to the next, it offers up too much of a good thing. Poetry is a dense, intense form of written expression, often demanding reflection and therefore consumed in small quantities. Had the scrolls been distributed along the length of the canal stretching up to the end at Father Morrisette Boulevard, visitors at any spot in the park might be attracted to engage with the scrolls. This arrangement would be more pleasing visually, and would also acknowledge the contemplative nature of poetry within the context of a unique urban green space.
The final “miss” that really left me perplexed: there were no scrolls in the area of the park that is actually adjacent to the High School. Here was a missed opportunity for young artists to have their work displayed in a public space that is shared by their peers and by the larger community. Here, too, was a missed opportunity for a young audience to encounter poetry outside the classroom, poetry created by their contemporaries and speaking to their own sensibilities.
Nevertheless, the Revolving Museum is to be commended for embracing poetry as a public art form and presenting an array of poetry events, workshops, and exhibits.
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