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POET AND AUTHOR
IN THE K EY OF HOME, A SONG FOR COLUMBUS
The impor tance of creature comfor ts with Hanif Abdurraqib. by JACQUI GER MAIN / Photography by ATTILIO D’AGOSTINO
The red block lettering of Pierce Cleaners’ outdoor sign is a staple of Columbus’ popular High Street. The sign, perched a few yards from its related brownshingled storefront, offers a new joke or lighthearted pun each week, as it has for the last few decades. For acclaimed poet, New York Times bestselling author and Columbus native Hanif Abdurraqib, the cheeky phrases are a reliable and welcoming beacon after weeks on the road performing shows across the country. In the face of rapidly encroaching gentrification, the city’s familiar features are things Abdurraqib has come to treasure, inspiring a sense of nostalgia and evoking an interest in documenting the changing of landscape and experience. “In my work, I’m interested in the act of archiving,” Abdurraqib explains. “I’m not just talking about gentrification here, but I do think to watch the landscape shift—and then to watch parts of it vanish—pushes
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my urgency towards archival, too.” While a new visual landscape begins to develop and stretch across Columbus with an eye on the future, Abdurraqib’s work tends to reach back through time. Memory is a common fixture of his poetry, music criticism and essay writing, often using poignant past moments to offer the reader an unexpected take on an old idea or a sharp insight into the human condition. His style of storytelling makes his work distinct across genre and form, but despite the overwhelming praise and his success today, that wasn’t always the case. Abdurraqib got his start as “kind of a bad freelance journalist writing bad reviews for things,” covering underground bands for small zines and blogs. The punk-music scene—and punk music, in general—was a pillar of his teen years, and getting into music writing was his excuse to consistently write about a community
