The Radical Empathy of Humzah Farrukh

Junior Bases interviews poet Humzah Farrukh, whose poems “Fruit Stall” and “Notes From the Potato Bug” are published in Volume 12.

“What I’m afraid of is an unlived life” - Humzah Farrukh

From the start, Humzah was poetic. He gave me this line matter-of-factly in the pavilion facing the Tecolote Book Shop in Montecito, as he and I both waited for the reading to start.

“I credit my sister”

Farrukh, who waded through hours of 101 traffic on his way North from Los Angeles to the Central Coast, has been living to his fullest. Still in his twenties, the UCLA grad runs a nonprofit called the Farrukh Foundation that helps build schools and boarding houses in developing countries. Feeling grateful to all those that helped put him and his siblings in a position to earn an education, Farrukh wanted to give back. From Pakistan, to Morocco, to South America, the Farrukh Foundation has helped build five schools and six boarding houses in less than three years of existence.

“The first time I went on a backpacking trip with my dad, my lifeview shattered”

Farrukh’s writing is heavily inspired by travel. In reference to one of the two poems he read, Notes from the Potato Bug, Farrrukh reflected that gratitude was the main theme. A bug grateful for a home, a child grateful for a school, and a young adult grateful for a college education all share the same source of appreciation that this poem taps into. It is this radical empathy, this ability to find the common ground that his shoes share with others, that makes Farrukh’s poetry so inviting.

“I like poetry that’s like coffee, quick and gets you thinking”

            The first poem Farrukh read, Fruit Stall, is posted in the poetry section of this website. It is an extremely personal poem about romantic grief that offers specific raw examples of mourning a relationship. The magic of the poem is that these individual experiences are universalized so easily through the writing that it forces the reader to empathize with the poet’s own processing. The soft, intimate reading Farrukh gave of this poem was, to my surprise, his first time reading for an audience. Still, in this small moment of glory, he kept his gratitude close to his heart.