Poems and smells

Remember this post, where I described going to the MoMA? For a piece about art, it was a little heavy on words and a lot short on graphics. I think it was most notable for my inability to convey the total crazy awesomeness of the McCoys' "Traffic #1."

I was reading the NY Times today, and apparently I'm not alone in failing to find the words to help you understand the magical wonderfulness of this piece. From a brief paragraph on the entire exhibit are a few lines about "Traffic #1" in particular:

... Nearby is an installation by Jennifer and Kevin McCoy, and American husband-and-wife artist team, consisting of a tabletop model recreating the famous car accident scene from Jean-Luc Godard's 1967 film "Weekend." Video cameras film the scene, the tabletop rotating to create the impression of movement, with the footage computer-processed and then played back live in a projection on an adjacent wall. It may be the coolest thing you've ever seen....

Credit where credit is due: the writer of that was Benjamin Genocchio.

But why is it cool? How is it cool? I'm starting to think that perhaps poetry would be useful here. I never quite thought about instances where poetry exclusively would come in handy because I always thought straight-ahead prose could describe anything, but I'm beginning to appreciate the need for different modes of description. (Or would it be "different methods of description"? I think "modes" makes me sound smarter.) When I was in Europe, one of things I regretted was the lack of a device to capture the smell and physical feel of places. Photos and videos are all well and good, but the smells are unique, and the heat and the cold and the humidity are things you can't replicate or even remember sometimes.

So then: What we need is for a poet (or several) to see "Traffic #1" and write poems about it. Unfortunately the exhibit closes on September 4, so poets: get going!