Hanif Abdurraqib
American poet and essayistWikipedia
10
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10
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10
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Search complete. 10 mentions across 10 episodes found for "Hanif Abdurraqib".
Nov 6, 2026
Brendan O'MearaHOST
It's like writing in the age of AI.
Brendan O'MearaHOST
If you're writing as flat as an AI or you get stuck in that famous MFA voice, then why do this? If I'm reading Hanif Abdurraqib or Elena Passarello or Chuck Klosterman or Elisa Gabber, all these people, great essayists.
Brendan O'MearaHOST
I'm listening to them because they're singular.
Brendan O'MearaHOST
And I know I'm in for a ride.
Dave MaherHOST
time? Okay.
Dave MaherHOST
Because I've done the thing recent guest Hanif Abdurraqib does and influenced by him.
Dave MaherHOST
He talks about watching it on Thanksgiving.
Dave MaherHOST
It was recorded on Thanksgiving.
SierraHOST
It feels like they figured it out.
SierraHOST
And I think actually, shocker, Hanif Abdurraqib posted something that I thought made a lot of sense because she was complaining about the refs and like specifically saying that something switched after the... aces winner or the aces the dream went up to one um and he said she has to lock back in valks have made incredible adjustments on her forcing her to post up more stuff so stuff but she has to lock in and make offensive adjustments IMO this is Hanif talking a massive strength of Angel Reese is how passionate she is because it fuels her on court motor but the flip side is that when things don't go her way it can be really hard for her to stay locked in and I think that's kind of what you see on the court is like Regardless of the reffing stuff, which newsflash, the WNBA refs suck.
SierraHOST
But I still think it's like 78 to 100 and something fouls against the Dream versus the Valks.
SierraHOST
The Dream
Brendan SlocumbGUEST
And I'm not really an audio book guy because although I can multitask, I don't like to when I'm reading.
Brendan SlocumbGUEST
Believe it or not, I'm currently, one of my favorite authors is Hanif Abdurraqib.
Brendan SlocumbGUEST
I really, really, really enjoy, I mean, you know, his, his, I love his work.
Brendan SlocumbGUEST
I'm a Colson Whitehead fan.
James Allen HallHOST
So interesting.
James Allen HallHOST
I'm just immediately when you said flowers, I was, I flashed to this poem by Hanif Abdurraqib, um, um called how can black people write about flowers at a time like this and it was published in poem a day this is what he says about about the poem i was at a reading shortly after the election and the poet who was black was reading gorgeous poems which had some consistent and exciting flower imagery a woman who was white behind me who thought she was whispering to her neighbor said how can black people write about flowers at a time like this I thought it was so absurd in a way that didn't make me angry, but made me curious.
James Allen HallHOST
What is the Black poet to be writing about, quote, at a time like this, if not to dissect the attractiveness of a flower, that which can arrive beautiful and then slowly die right before our eyes? I thought flowers were the exact thing to write about at a time like this.
James Allen HallHOST
So I began this series of poems all with the same title.
Maggie SmithHOST
I can take a visit to my bookshelf, or the library, or the enormous treasure trove of poems on the internet, finding lines that I put together to form a new whole, something I get to call my own.
Maggie SmithHOST
Today's poem is a cento composed from lines from poets Justin Philip Reed, Hieu Minh Nguyen, Fatimah Asghar, Kaveh Akbar, Sam Saxe, Ari Banias, C. Bane, Oliver Baez Bendorf, Hanif Abdurraqib, Safia Elhillo, Danez Smith, Ocean Vuong, Franny Choi, Lucille Clifton, and Nate Marshall.
Maggie SmithHOST
And I admire this poem because although it was made from scraps of language, it makes wholeness its business.
Maggie SmithHOST
To me, this poem is about the power of community and the necessity of friendship for our collective survival, collective freedom, and collective joy.
Shalewa SharpeHOST
Yeah, Hanif.
Shalewa SharpeHOST
Isn't it Muhammad something?
Gastor AlmonteHOST
Nah, nah, nah.
Shalewa SharpeHOST
No, no, no, no, no.
William ParisHOST
If I could have a
Gil MorejónHOST
last line, I want to just say to the listener, you should go read Danica Kelly and Hanif Abdurraqib for some contemporary Black poets
William ParisHOST
who are really...
William ParisHOST
Yeah, let's put that in the show notes.
Joy OladokunGUEST
And so, yeah, I love, love James Baldwin.
Joy OladokunGUEST
I love Hanif Abdurraqib.
Joy OladokunGUEST
He's one of my favorite, like, sort of contemporary writers.
Joy OladokunGUEST
Jay is a poet.