When Hanif Abdurraqib was born, his father sang the call to prayer in his ear—a melody that has echoed onward through his life. “I’m not a singer,” admits the Ohio-based writer, “I can’t sing well and I don’t attempt to sing often. However…l like to think that poetry most commonly stumbles towards me in the sense of song. I talk about paying close attention to the world, and what I mean is paying close attention to the sounds and small movements in the world and trying to arrange them in a way that has a musicality and a beauty to it.” His writing is energetic and tender, marked by breathless urgency and a lyrical precision that recognises the potential of every word and sentence. A believer in the co-authorship of art and life, Abdurraqib says he writes in search of shared revelation: “I’m always seeking that specific common ground with others… to say, you aren’t going to feel exactly as I feel, but you might come close, and in that closeness we might connect.” We hope the conversation that follows moves you toward this possibility.
hube: Cultures are constantly connecting and transforming. Does “evolution” describe this process, or would you choose a different word?
Hanif Abdurraqib: I think evolution is perhaps a good word, butnot an all-encompassing one. A central crisisof my own mind is that it actually feels likewe are at an interesting point right now. Onecould look at the cultural landscape and saywe are in the midst of singularly great innovations from the standpoint of technology,and from the standpoint of having accessto one another, and from the standpoint ofhaving more ways to reach more people thanever. However, this has come at an immensecost, I think, to the infrastructures that rely onactual material human connection. There isa cultural ecosystem that relies on the healthof our brains, and our hearts, and our ability topay close attention to the movements of theworld—and it feels like there’s been a devolution of that. This is the cost of what somepeople would consider grand evolutions intechnological infrastructure. An infrastructure that is supposedly leading to us havingmore access to one another than ever, but Ithink what it’s actually doing is isolating people. So, evolution is the baseline word that Ithink makes sense. However, I think that forthe first time in my life, I’m really grapplingwith the cost of this so-called “evolution.” Isimply don’t believe that the surrender ofour hearts and minds should be the priceof admission for what people have fooledthemselves into thinking evolution is. Thereis no worthwhile evolution that leaves ourhearts and our brains behind.
