Hanif Abdurraqib

Like the edges of the clouds are so puffy and round.

And, you know, as someone who lives here, I was kind of like, oh, yeah, sure, sure.

And the whole function of this was like Sarah lives in New York.

And so like the clouds are often obscured by the skyline.

It's the show in the sky is not as much the show.

I think that oftentimes the function of the entire project of Sarah Kay's living, if I could boil it down to one thing, is look at this thing, look at this thing, look at this thing, but not in an annoying way.

It is a way that says, I'm checking to see if your heart's still working.

And your ability to pay close attention to that which you have become intimately and deeply familiar with.

Because if you can pay deep and close attention to the clouds that you walk underneath, like literally every day in this city...

you might be able to pay close attention to someone in your life who may be hurting or in need of something or deeply just need you to sit in front of them and be silent for a while.

And so I am thankful to be a fan of Sarah's work, but more than that, I am thankful to have a life where Sarah is always challenging me to question repeatedly how well is my heart still working.

Please give a hand to Sarah Kaye.

So I was unhoused for a stretch.

I was like sleeping in a storage unit for a while and then just like very much on the streets, right?

There's this very large church.

And every morning,

I would walk by it.

And there was a person who, you know, was like a maintenance person at the church who would notice me.

And after a while, again, without a lot of language or a lot of intention, he would start unlocking the door at 6 a.m., you know, and let me and a couple other people come in and sleep in the pews for three hours.

It was saying, like, I have a key.