You can read this for free here: https://www.biglucks.com/store/vintag...Love Abdurraqib's writing style. His words pack a punch, for sure. Will be reading more of his works soon! WATCHING THE FIRST SCENE OF “BELLY” WITH THE LIGHTS OFF, 2002we ran from the nightclub / when the newspaper / told me that five people / were pulled from the Avalon’s bloody tile / it didn’t feel like I had survived / anything other than a Friday / with money in my pocket / but I still grabbed my boys / by the shirt

"we drove through Ohio once and saw / only the promise of a waiting hell / on a billboard between farms / maybe this is why you are so lonely / maybe this is why you write only about exits"

honestly, you can already tell this 5 star review was coming. i read the bootlegged version (hanif thank you thank you thank you for making the book accessible for a brokeass non-american teenage girl) & i was like.... choking all the time reading it. but god AND WHAT GOOD WILL YOUR VANITY BE WHEN THE RAPTURE COMES tore me into pieces & i don't regret that at all.

"this is how i remember you / as grass / as flowers / as anything pushing out of the earth / in the name of its own survival / I throw a handful of dirt into the wind / it blows back into my eyes / and, there / I feel it kiss my forehead."

DAMN. Hanif is stupidly talented, and is very quickly becoming my favorite contemporary poet. How blessed we are to have two of his books coming out in 2017. This is a great, restrained collection, but still incredibly powerful. If you loved The Crown Ain't Worth Much, you'll undoubtedly love this...if you can get your hands on one of the limited copies!

A fantastic excuse to listen to Ginuwine's "Pony" or Bone Thugs' "Crossroads."

quería citar algo que me haya gustado mucho acá pero no me podía decidir entre “dying is hard when you have given birth to so much” y “son, you do not have to be afraid anymore. there is no city that is not my arms. I am everyone who loves you” y “this works better if you imagine loneliness / as something that can be uprooted & worn around the shoulders” y “Momma, if I die, / it will not be from a lack of anything. / I am full, I am full, I can barely / move” y todo el resto del poemario

He’s still getting his footing here, but still manages to pen several jaw-dropping pieces. I will continue to read whatever I get my hands on from this author.

if you're like me and don't have a physical copy of this very-out-of-print chapbook you can read a hanif-sanctioned scanned PDF of it here:https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1yg...

Damn.

every time i read hanif willis-abdurraqib’s work, i have to catch my breath. he has the careful balancing act between tender and terrifying down pat—the strange liminal space between the two locates a part of me that i have only felt flounder at certain hours. most of them sunset. i love his brain: I just want to touch someone who thinks of me while their coffee cools. I just want to kiss a mouth that has grown my name inside. I just want to make good use of all this nighttime.

"In the interview, they asked if you believe in love at first sight. You said I think I have to. You didn’t say we are all one hard storm away from dissolving, vanishing into the frenzied dusk. But I get it. I know what it is to walk into the mouth of an unfamiliar morning and feel everything. I touch hands with a stranger who gives me my change at the market, and I already know their history. I suppose this is survival. I will love those who no one else thinks to remember."tender and brilliant

"he tells me this is called ghosting.or, what it means to be defined only by the emptiness that once held you."Reading anything by Hanif feels like I'm being given access to his most intimate thoughts but incredibly polished, raw and genuine at the same time. I got a free copy online and decided to give this a read. As always, he writes with enough emotional vigor to have you captivated throughout.

I've been meaning to read one of Hanif Abdurraqib's collections for a long time now, after having come across multiple poems of his on tumblr and falling in love with them immediately. yet, i was still surprised at just how much this collection took a hold of me. emotions pulse out of every poem. his words weave a rich tapestry of love, loneliness, grief and so much more. I cannot wait to read more of Abdurraqib's words.

That missing star probably reflects more on my relationship to poetry than Abdurraqib's work.

Strange and surreal long chapbook. Some pieces use pop or hip hop songs (or at least the titles of those songs) as occasions for poems that touch on violence, passion, humanity, and much more. Some imagine a conversation between a poet and editor about how writers imagine Ohio, the Midwest, the grass and the sky. Many are oddly touching, like the poem about the leaves so dazzling they could drown a funeral. Confident and unique poetry. Really liked this book...

There are very few living writers whose every word I will purchase if given the chance, but Hanif Willis-Abdurraqib has just rocketed to the top of that list. This was a limited edition thing so I can't tell you to buy it, but I can tell you buy The Crown Ain't Worth Much, and to wait with sweaty excitement for the next thing and the next.

Read the bootleg on a dim phone screen until the battery died . 5/5 would sacrifice Candy Crush and Reddit for this again.

"I wake and remember only a harsh wind. I love nothing that can see its own reflection." Vintage Hanif.

As always, Hanif Abdurraqib has an unparalleled ability to distill enormous emotions and experiences down into the most exquisite poems. He seamlessly leads the reader from a Carly Rae Jepsen interview into a rumination on loss. It never feels forced or kitschy. Sprinkled beneath titles that are predominantly musicians and/or song names, these poems deliver lines that are so stunning you don't realize your mouth has been hanging open since page 5.While this book feels somewhat casual compared to...