Poet Hanif Abdurraqib reflects on the ways grief has shaped his spirituality

NPR's Book of the Day

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Books, Arts

4.2 • 671 Ratings

🗓️ 2 August 2023

⏱️ 16 minutes

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Summary

In his new book, A Little Devil in America, poet Hanif Abdurraqib writes about music in such a way that NPR's Rachel Martin wanted to focus a conversation about spiritual transcendence related to it. What came out, however, was a deep discussion about how losing his mother and close friends early in life created its own kind of spiritual practice for Abdurraqib. In today's episode, he explains how "grief makes a home within us" and why that might actually be a good thing.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey there, this is NPR's Book of the Day. I'm Glenn Weldon. NPR's Rachel Martin hosts a series called Enlighten Me that airs on all things considered Sundays. She sits down with a wide variety of folks who share some of the milestones they've happened across along their own spiritual journeys. These conversations go deep, as you might imagine, and tackle some of the
0:21.2	most fundamental existential questions of all. A recent example is this thoughtful and compelling
0:27.2	and really quietly powerful interview with poet Hanif Abdurakib. Rachel went into this conversation
0:34.0	having read his latest book, A Little devil in America, in which he writes
0:37.6	about the centrality of music in his life and spiritual practice, and she thought they were going
0:42.2	to talk about that. The conversation they ended up having, though, was different. And a heads
0:47.7	up to listeners, Rachel and Hanif ended up talking a lot about grief and about suicide. If you need to talk with someone about those
0:56.0	issues or others, call 988 to reach the suicide and crisis hotline. Here's their conversation.
1:02.7	In the U.S., national security news can feel far away from daily life. Distant wars, murky
1:08.8	conflicts, diplomacy behind closed doors on our new show,
1:12.9	Sources and Methods. NPR reporters on the ground bring you stories of real people,
1:17.8	helping you understand why distant events matter here at home.
1:21.6	Listen to sources and methods on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.
1:29.8	How would you define your spiritual identity if you have one?
1:36.2	I feel like at this point in my life, so I was raised Muslim.
1:41.1	And at this point in my life, I am someone who at the very least feels required to believe in the
1:49.1	presence of an afterlife. Because my spiritual identity is by now so inextricably linked to loss,
1:58.0	and the amount of people I've lost, people I love a great deal.
2:03.4	And I think one thing that propels me forward is believing that there is a place beyond this
2:11.2	where we might commune again.
2:13.1	But I also don't necessarily believe in the rigidity of an afterlife as it's presented
2:17.2	in text,
	...

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