Anagnorisis: the point in the plot, especially of a tragedy, at which the protagonist…discovers the true nature of his or her own situation. For Dargan, the truth of being a Black man in today’s United States involves an ongoing stream of black deaths, climate change, gentrification, and a government that cares little about social justice. In his fifth collection of poems, Dargan, winner of both the Cave Canem Poetry Prize and the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award and an associate professor of literature and director of creative writing at American University, powerfully articulates the nature of the tragedy underway, even as he stays determined to survive and write. Dargan will be in conversation with Tess Taylor, NPR’s All Things Considered poetry critic and the author of two books of poetry.
