Poet: Anis Mojgani, Austin, TX
Small Doggies Single Poem Feature #6: Anis Mojgani, Austin, TX
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I Was in a House on Fire
I was in a house on fire. It was surrounded. The soldiers surrounding it
were all on horses. They had made a ring around the building.
The soldiers pulled out swords and trumpets. They flashed one
and blew into the other. I stayed inside. I had set the fire. Those men
were not going to take me alive, or at all. I climbed into the basement,
pulled the door shut behind me. I would be safe down there. I had built a
lock that was indestructible. I had everything I needed: grains and grass,
a small orange tree. Even had a box with a piece of the sky in it. I had
found it behind the farm many years ago. It wasn’t much to look at. Had
obviously been cast aside due to its sickly nature. But I had taken it in
and nursed it, and it had grown somewhat. I didn’t need much else. I
could stay down here as long as I needed to.
I did.
I stayed in the basement for 317 years.
One day I climbed up my steps and opened the door. In the time that had
passed, a large department store of the future had been built over the
place where I had once set fire to my house. I tried to buy some new
clothes but the only thing they sold were flowers.
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Anis Mojgani is a two time National Poetry Slam Champion and winner of the International World Cup Poetry Slam. A TEDx Speaker and former resident of the Oregon Literary Arts Writers-In-The-Schools program, Anis has performed at numerous universities, festivals, and venues around the globe.
He has performed for audiences as varied as the House of Blues and the United Nations, and his work has appeared on HBO, NPR, and in the pages of such journals as Rattle, Used Furniture Review, Muzzle, and The Legendary. A founding member of the touring Poetry Revival, Anis is also the author of two poetry collections, both published by Write Bloody Publishing: Over the Anvil We Stretch (2008) and The Feather Room (2011). Originally from New Orleans, he currently lives in Austin TX in a little house with his wife.