Welcome to the tunnel of gloom.
Inside the Times Square subway station hangs a cryptic, depressing poem strung out along the ceiling beams of the tight, eerie underground passageway between 8th and 7th avenues.
It’s dark, weird and kind of funny, but if you’ve passed by even once you’ve probably wondered why on earth it’s there in the first place.
The 18-word poem — titled “Commuter’s Lament or A Close Shave” — has been looming over commuters with its dark humor for 25 years now but Sandra Bloodworth, director of MTA Arts & Design, said it’s not actually intended to be as depressing as it sounds:
Overslept.
So tired.
If late,
Get fired.
Why bother?
Why the pain?
Just go home.
Do it again.
Pretty disturbing, right?
Bloowdworth said it’s just intended to be cynical, tongue-in-cheek New York City humor.
The poem was installed back in 1991, as part of a temporary art program started in the late 80s.
The MTA’s whole arts program — formerly called Arts for Transit — was founded in 1985, at a time when long-term art installations were logistically difficult.
A number of the stations were scheduled for major renovations, so permanent art installations didn’t make sense in many locations.
Looking for a way to install art more immediately, the MTA started a temporary arts program.
“It was called Creative Stations and we did five or six of those a year,” Bloodworth said.
There was, of course, a selection process and artists would submit an idea and a suggested location and then a selection panel of arts professionals would pick which proposals to use. Each project had a non-profit sponsor — “A Commuter’s Lament” was sponsored by the City University of New York.
Bloodworth has been with the MTA for 27 years, so when “Commuter’s Lament” was selected, she was the panel’s chair.
Different selections stood out to her for different reasons, but what was most striking about this proposal was “its wonderful New York sense of humor.”
The artist who proposed the installation was Norman B. Colp, a New York native.
“He had a real dry wit and that came through in his work,” she said.
The idea for the poem was based on the Burma-Shave roadside ad campaigns plastered across the country for some 40 years. Starting in the 1920s, the brushless shaving cream brand started advertising with signs strung along American highways.
There’d be a sign: “Shave the modern way.”
A few yards later, there would be another: “Wash the face.”
Then: “Apply with fingers.”
“Shave.”
“Big tube 35 cents.”
Colp’s poem is spread out with one line every few feet, just like a modern-day Burma-Shave ad campaign.
Originally, the piece was intended as a one-year installation. But, Bloodworth said, “In our system if it lasts a year it’ll last forever.”
So the poem stayed up and eventually was taken into the MTA’s permanent collection.
Although his art is still standing, unfortunately Colp isn’t around to enjoy its longevity. He died in 2007. The Creative Stations program that oversaw his piece’s installation is no longer around, either — but millions of commuters have been able to enjoy the poem. According to the MTA, a little over 200,000 riders pass through that subway station on an average weekday.
BRONX STUDENT TURNS GRIM POEM IN GRIMY SUBWAY TUNNEL AROUND
“It’s like seeing an old friend that reminds you of the cyclic nature of the journey,” Bloodworth said. “It’ll bring a quirky smile to your face.”
Not everyone has been as positive about the poem, though. In 2011, a Bronx college student made the news when he plastered more uplifting words over parts of the poem.
At the time, Colp’s widow, Marsha Stern-Colp, told the News she wasn’t too pleased with the vandalism
“Why be optimistic in these times?” she asked. “Be realistic — life sucks. You get through it the best you can.”
The MTA fixed the tampering right away, but Bloodworth says the college student’s reaction is rare.
“I would say 99% of New Yorkers get it. It’s such a New York thing.”
