A Little Devil in America

There’s something about reading this book right here that makes me want to put the blinders on & tune everything out & just keep reading & feeling & following Hanif Abdurraqib’s flow from Whitney’s I-haven’t-forgotten glance at the Soul Train Awards to Merry’s second take on Gimme Shelter to the breeze & blinding lights embraced by Black kids coming out of a dark & damp dance in the middle of the school day & along the way I’m blown away by the all of everything wrapped in words on pages & the way Hanif teaches me the ways that grief can be generous & that grace is something to never take for granted & I’ve never read such a perfect blend of pleasure & pain & past & present & personal & political & I’m starting to believe that reading & writing reveal the art & artist within anyone because there’s something about reading this book right here that makes me want to put the blinders on which is another way of saying that A Little Devil in America is opening my eyes to the multitudes of meaning within a single moment.