In the Pockets of Small Gods

In the Pockets of Small Gods

In his latest poetry collection, Anis Mojgani goes into the persistent shadow of grief. With an eloquent and delicate hand, Mojgani skillfully navigates the intricate terrain of carrying grief without allowing it to become an overwhelming burden, where joy and pain become interconnected threads in the intricate tapestry of life. Renowned for his ability to conjure surreal imagery and lay bare his raw vulnerability, Mojgani infuses each poem with a profound and unfiltered honesty, In the Pockets of Small Gods serves as a vessel for the human experience. Through Mojgani's masterful artistry, readers embark on a journey that traverses the landscape of human emotion, where grief intertwines with hope, and where the echoes of loss are softened by the embrace of memory. The collection stands as a testament to the remarkable capacity of poetry to articulate the nuanced complexities of existence, guiding us through the intricacies of navigating our shared journey with both resilience and compassion. “Anis Mojgani—dazzling meteor poet and thinker—follow him on this breathtaking, deeply moving voyage across sky and space and loss but mostly stare into the lake with him long enough to feel how wonders renew every cell. A crucial, amazing collection from a stirring high voltage voice!”—NAOMI SHIHAB NYE, author of 19 Varieties of Gazelle & Fuel  “‘I can see it like it was a film,’ Anis Mojgani’s rending new collection begins, and suddenly we see it too: cold black cherry cola through a straw, blackbirds rustling ripe plums down from trees, pizza shared between spouses who no longer cherish each other. Mojgani maps a path from the death of a friend to the death of a marriage to the death of a country. Here is a book that knows true grief, knows too how to alchemize that grief into grace. The cold, the fire, the losing, yes. But always, then: ‘The spring. And the spring. The spring.’”—KAVEH AKBAR, author of Calling A Wolf A Wolf Anis Mojgani is the former Poet Laureate of Oregon. A two-time individual champion of the National Poetry Slam and winner of the International World Cup Poetry Slam, he has been awarded residencies from the Vermont Studio Center, Caldera, AIR Serenbe, The Bloedel Nature Reserve, The Sou'wester, and the Oregon Literary Arts Writers-In-The-Schools program. A recipient of an Academy of American Poets Poet Laureate Fellowship, Anis has done commissions for the Getty Museum and the Peabody Essex Museum; and his work has appeared on HBO, National Public Radio, and as part of the Academy of American Poets Poem-A-Day series. His work has appeared in the pages of the NYTimes, Rattle, Platypus, Winter Tangerine, Forklift Ohio, and Bat City Review.Known for his performances and well regarded for them the world over, Anis has performed at hundreds of universities across the U.S.; festivals around the globe such as the Sydney Writers Festival, Jamaica's Calabash festival, and Seoul's Young Writers Festival; and for audiences as varied as the United Nations and the House of Blues. The author of six books of poetry and the opera libretto for Sanctuaries, his first children's book is forthcoming from Holiday House/Neal Porter Books. His latest poetry collection is, The Tigers They Let Me. Originally from New Orleans, Anis currently lives in Portland Oregon. ,   , ,   , Excerpt from In the Pockets of Small Gods: "In the garden I waited for spring Always I waited for spring And for my love to appear like it returning out of the cold and with flowers upon its fingertips"