Hanif is from Ohio and loves to listen and write about music and its effect on his life and the world. He also loves french fries which he states on the homescreen of his website which i found funny. He has been posted in the New York times and numerous other cities that recognize him for his poetry. He loves 90’s r & b music which you can begin understanding his passion when you read poems which 50% of them are titled with reference to some type of music or artist. (cite aburraqib.com)
He is a black man and grew up in Ohio “ after the War of 1812 ohio became a key state in helping enslaved people escape to freedom via the Underground Railroad.” (cite history.com)
Too hard: “the ghost of marvin gaye sits in the ruins of old livingston flea market and considers monogamy”
I’m not sure if it’s the structure of this poem that confused me but I had an extremely hard time comprehending this poem’s meanings. I know the history of Marvin Gaye yet the way this is written jumbles up my brain. “ there is not a corner where i am not a god to somebody” i assume this is coming from the perspective of marvin and that he is praising himself for his talent and ability to produce powerful meaningful pieces of music. The poem’s mood changes quickly to a “no one claps, at all the tongues miracles” which confuses me because he’s a god in the last sentence yet if he’s a god why is no one praising him like one. He follows with discussion of his dad and how he knew to wield a gun and “ all the men I come from could hunt” which I assume would be representative of his background of violence. The next part of the poem is what really began to have me confused. He brings in discussion of suits or sweats as “methods” and then “piano keys and a scream could rock loose anyones chains” which I feel doesn’t make sense in the context of this story to me or I may be missing a key background detail or understanding but I do not get this completely. Then he goes to discuss “ a murder in reverse “ where he begins to use “im sayin” twice which I assume refers to the inability for any witness to testify against a shooter due to them being dead. Then he begins to tell how the rhythm of the headboards and caskets being put into the ground which he most cherishes. All in all this poem still doesn’t make much sense to me but I would have really loved it too. But I also appreciate the difficulty behind understanding it because of the multiple interpretations I got from just examining it to write about.
The Livingston flea market is in North Carolina which is not where Hanif was from.““It’s important for me to say, ‘Yes, I am a Midwesterner second, but definitely an Ohioan first,’ Abduqarrib said in an interview. “It’s vital for me to track and build stories around voices here, and people here, and struggles here that are not the struggles that make the news.” “( cite hayalife.com) which can explain why he is writing about a place he isn’t around. He wants to represent all people, not just from his perspective of an Ohio man.
Too easy: “Welcome to heartbreak” . I chose this poem by Hanif because I was able to understand it on my first readthrough. Most poems take me at least 3-4 thorough reads to completely understand and grasp the concept of the story. This one was very smooth, or more so than any of his other poems. He is expressing himself through the death of his childhood and how the sacrifices he made to preserve his dying childhood just killed things that were still living and thriving. The mood of this poem is kind of sad and reflective, he is sharing that while trying to save his childhood through pictures he is killing trees to frame it and keep the memory of his past self. “Being born out of that which will be your undoing” i think this was the most powerful line in the poem to me because he is expressing through flowers, the reality behind every living thing on any planet which is that everyone, thing, or being will someday die in the same place that they were born from, the earth. This line was so powerful to me and for this poem because it can connect to his awareness of killing a tree for a frame, and the killing of his younger self which he has grown out of and left behind where it had begun.
Hanif is from Ohio and loves to listen and write about music and its effect on his life and the world. He also loves french fries which he states on the homescreen of his website which i found funny and i feel like this can definitely connect to his childhood self because im sure if he loves them so much he resonates some connection with it to his childhood. He has been posted in the New York times and numerous other cities that recognize him for his poetry.
Jusssst right: “ode to kanye west in two parts, ending in a chain of mother rising from the river”
I chose this poem to be my just right poem because after reading it a couple times I’m still able to pick up details that I missed on my past readings. The idea of this poem resonates with me as a kind of viewpoint coming from a white person talking about kanye west, or just his general impact. The beginning being “ hey boy” really sets the tone for the rest of the poem, it gives me a sense of accusation from aa white man, to kanye. He is saying that kanye is ruining the world the white people had build “ rupture this countries spine” i assume the author was intending this to be showing the shift from segregation to equality and how that opportunity had given the african american people an opportunity to intoxicate almost the world that they had built. “ Our men earn and set in fire and melt down into the bright flesh of another woman who will never cup your face” This line is a big reason why I chose this poem to be my just right because I feel like this line in particular really is versatile and open to many interpretations. To me it almost seems as if he meant that they were burning down the African American women who tried to prosper during this time and turning them into “bright” new and modified versions of themselves. He loves 90’s r & b music which you can tell by his references with kanye and marvin, I can definitely resonate with that love and you can begin understanding his passion when you read his poems more in depth and with an idea of the things that he leaves unsaid in the poems. As he is referencing the artists in the title he never mentions them specifically in the poem itself which I feel makes it even more powerful and special that he would write it in such a way with devotion to a person’s ideas. 
