Joe Cochran

In the opening lines of his poem An Agony. As Now, Amiri Baraka, speaking on his life in America states:

“I am inside someone

who hates me. I look

out from his eyes. Smell

what fouled tunes come in

to his breath. Love his

wretched women.

Slits in the metal, for sun. Where

my eyes sit turning, at the cool air

the glance of light, or hard flesh

rubbed against me, a woman, a man,

without shadow, or voice, or meaning.”

The poem reflects Baraka’s existential dilemma - his identity within America is fractured. He lives in a country that hates him, yet his worldview is shaped by it. In Baraka’s eyes, the country has taken his sovereignty, forcing him to live disconnected from himself. Through this lens, one can infer that Baraka was speaking about his Blackness and its seeming incongruity to America. It can also be read as a parable for anyone outside of the paradigm of the country. Black, Trans, Gay, Lesbian, poor, differently-abled, Baraka makes the point that the country will atomize you - leaving you depersonalized and derealized.

Though the America Baraka’s poem takes place in is long gone, its remnants remain. It can be seen especially in New York City. In recent years the metropolis of nearly 9 million has fallen into a unique surreality, a dystopic visage. Exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, the City’s issues have become more prominent and inescapable. Already existing socio-economic chasms in healthcare, education, and economic prospects have left nearly a third of its residents in abject poverty, including 1 out of four children. Illicit substances have flooded the streets, exposing the true legacy of the War on Drugs; meanwhile the promise of humane “affordable housing” has been thrown to its wayside for more cynical practices, leaving the City facing a homelessness crisis on par with the Great Depression. Everywhere you look, every facet of the City is in decay.

Serving as the artist's ongoing meditation on life in his hometown, An Agony. As Now navigates contemporary New York City, a city reeling from a relentless tide of crises. Finding inspiration in Amiri Baraka’s poem, the project is a testament to the death of the American Metropolis - to the soul of a city disconnected from itself.