I chose to write about the poet Anis Mojgani.

He is a two-time National Poetry Slam

Champion, TEDx speaker, and winner of the International WorldCup Poetry Slam. You can find
his work on HBO, NPR, and in the pages several literary journals, such as Rattle, Forklift Ohio,
Lumberyard, and Paper Darts. Mojgani is the author of three poetry collections: Songs From
Under The River, The Feather Room, and Over the Anvil We Stretch. He has performed at
numerous universities, festivals, and venues around the globe and for audiences that vary from
the House of Blues and the United Nations. Mojgani is a graduate of the Savannah College of Art
and Design. Originally from New Orleans, Anis currently lives in Austin TX in a little house
with his wife and their dog, Trudy.
His father was born in Iran but came to the United States when he was 19 years old to go
to school. Anis characterizes him as a pretty logical and rational thinking guy but also funny
when he wants to be. His mother grew up in New Orleans and later in Mississippi. Mojgani says
shes spunky, talkative and opinionated. He remembers that shes always done things with books.
I think that his parents both have an impact on him and you can see this in his poem Come
Closer. I believe that his fathers bravery to come to the United States and recreate his life shows
strong confidence and belief in his own ability to succeed. This is an impossible idea for people
who dont believe in themselves. In Come Closer you can see that Mojgani believes in the good
of humanity and that there is a light in every person. He wants them to feel the same confidence
that he feels, and that I believe he learned from his father.
This is reflected in the following lines:
I see teacups in your smiles
upside down glowing.
your hands are like my heart - on some days how it trembles.
let us hold them together.
I am like you.
I too at times am filled with fear.

but like a hallway we must find the strength to walk through it.
His mother has similarly made an impression on him with her love of words and her
spunk which can be viewed as her ability to speak about her feelings with the assurance that her
opinions have value. Mojgani would not be able to stand in front of people and creatively speak
about his deepest feelings if he did not share his fathers confidence and his mothers spunk.
Mojgani was raised a Bahai and I believe it has had a strong influence on his work in
general, but especially the poem Come Closer. The Bahai Faith is a young religion that began in
Iran less than two hundred years ago but is now a global faith. Its main belief is that of unity. It
professes the oneness of God, of humanity, and of all the races and religions. The Bahai Faith
believes that the faith of all individuals is a personal journey, that the nature of ones soul is on
its own personal journey to find the truths of the universe and that while we learn from and teach
one another, ones spirituality and ones relationship with God is ones own responsibility to
develop and figure out. I think that he wants to share his idea of a personal relationship between
every person and the Lord.
An example of this can be found in the lines
know that whatever God prays to,
He asked it to help Him make
something of worth.
He woke from His dreams,
scraped the soil from the spaces inside Himself,
made You and was happy.
you make the Lord happy.
come into this.
come closer.
Bahai is an empowering faith. It allows its members to bring to the table their traits and
personalities. It doesnt have one idea of what it means to be a Bahai nor does it ask people to
adhere to that. The religion encourages all people to bring their cultures with them to add to the

mix. The writings teach of the inherent nobility of man, of every individuals worth and the
power inside all of every human, at times latent. Mojgani says he thinks these ideas are amazing,
but its more amazing that too many people in the world are told the exact opposite! The idea of
how great and special everyone actually is and how much more alike we are than different is
important to Mojgani as a person and much of these ideas find their way into his work.
I believe you can see an example of his beliefs in these lines:
you are quite the beauty.
if no one has ever told you that before, know that now.
you are quite the beauty.
there is joy in how your mouth
dances with your teeth.
your mouth is a sign of how sacred your life truly is.
come into this.
true of heart,
come into this.
Mojgani has been characterized as a "geek genius" with "fiercely hopeful word arias." I
found a relation between the Bahai religion and Mojganis poem Come Closer. It directly
reflects the ideas and philosophies he has about people and the life that each human has been
entrusted with. He speaks to his audience about their individual value and insists that everyone is
important. He seems to repeatedly write about the idea that everyone is special, equal and
valuable. His favorite quote is by Bahauallah and it says, Noble have I created thee. Come
Closer is one of his most acclaimed and inspiring performances. He hopes that his performances
dont fit into any genre but instead just present themselves organically. He is driven by spoken
word because the audiences feedback heavily influences the rawness of his work. I believe that
this shows that he speaks honestly about his personal beliefs since his performances are organic
and this one provokes his emotion and therefore gets the audience on board as well. Mojgani
sometimes performs the same poems with different emotion and it will relay a different message.

Again, since this one has consistently been one of his most famous performances I believe it is
specific to his personal feelings and constantly causes him to have an emotional and touching
performance.

Reference Page

Mojgani, A. (2014). About. Retrieved from http://thepianofarm.com/

Not Listed. (2014). Anis Mojgani. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anis_Mojgani
Fans & Mojgani, A. (2014). F.A.Q. Retrieved from Piano Farm Web site:
http://thepianofarm.com/
Not Listed. (2014). ANIS MOJGANI BIOGRAPHY. Retrieved from
http://badilishapoetry.com/anis-mojgani/