This is a poem I originally wrote in Catalan, but it
didn't quite find its form until I translated it into
English. I have never been to the midwest, and I'm
pretty sure some of the geographical references here
are off. Anyhow, some months after writing the poem,
as I was organising my Google Maps screenshots, I
thought about animating them into a virtual road
trip. I almost broke my computer on the way. I also
played some sort of medley on the accordion.
A very thick midwestern accent, of the minessottan
variety, recites a poem recalling the narrator's
troublesome relationship with the geography that has
shaped them. As the video moves forward, it becomes
apparent that this speaker, as much as they have mas-
tered the pronunciation, has never been in the Midwest.
But it also makes itself clear that the Midwest is
everywhere. A digital road trip through Mongolia, Spain
and Ukraine is no less Midwest than the place itself.