There is a very long underground passageway if you transfer between trains at the 42nd St. station in Manhattan. Once I walked through the passageway with a friend and discovered a poem on the ceiling. Feeling less bored due to this new discovery, we wanted to walk faster to catch the next sentence of the poem, which ends at the end of the tunnel. This plain yet self mockery poem gives some insights to New Yorkers about how to forget and how to repeat. The trivial daily routines are grounded into groans by the rumbling trains and passersby’s steps, and become aloof in solitary. This series is a collective memory of New York City, and an attitude that is non-conformist and cynical. When I arrived at the end of the passageway and read the last sentence “do it again,” an image jumped into my mind: a man goes to work and wears a tie day after day…...

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"Commuter's Lament or A Close Shave"

 

Overslept.
So tired.
If late,
Get fired.
Why bother?
Why the pain?
Just go home.
Do it again.